Andy Weir



Andrew Taylor "Andy" Weir (born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist whose debut novel, The Martian, was later adapted into a film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott in 2015. He also worked as a computer programmer for much of his life. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016.

"The Egg" (2009)
(full text)

You stared blankly at me. "But all the people on earth…" "All you. Different incarnations of you." "Wait. I'm everyone!?" "Now you're getting it," I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back. "I'm every human being who ever lived?" "Or who will ever live, yes." "I'm Abraham Lincoln?" "And you're John Wilkes Booth, too," I added. "I'm Hitler?" You said, appalled. "And you're the millions he killed." "I'm Jesus?" "And you're everyone who followed him." You fell silent. "Every time you victimized someone," I said, "you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you've done, you've done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you."
 * "There is no one else," I said. "In this universe, there's just you and me."

The Martian (2014)

 * All page numbers are from the trade paperback edition published by Broadway Books ISBN 978-0-553-41802-6; see the Wikipedia article for complete publication history
 * Nominated for the 2015 John W. Campbell Memorial Award


 * As you can see, this plan provides many opportunities for me to die in a fiery explosion.
 * Chapter 4 (p. 29)


 * You started my training by buying me a beer. For breakfast. Germans are awesome.
 * Chapter 16 (p. 200)


 * Amazingly, some of the bacteria survived. The population is strong and growing. That’s pretty impressive, when you consider it was exposed to near-vacuum and subarctic temperatures for over twenty-four hours. My guess is pockets of ice formed around some of the bacteria, leaving a bubble of survivable pressure inside, and the cold wasn’t quite enough to kill them. With hundreds of millions of bacteria, it only takes one survivor to stave off extinction. Life is amazingly tenacious. They don’t want to die any more than I do.
 * Chapter 17 (p. 224)


 * “It just goes to show,” Teddy said. “Love of science is universal across all cultures.”
 * Chapter 19 (p. 247)


 * “But seeing his status doesn’t help,” Mindy said. “It’s not like we can do anything about it if he falls behind. This is a pointless task.” “How long have you worked for the government?” Venkat sighed.
 * Chapter 21 (p. 271)


 * Then I sat for a moment, dumbstruck that my plan had actually worked.
 * Chapter 24 (p. 318)


 * I started the day with some nothin’ tea. Nothin’ tea is easy to make. First, get some hot water, then add nothin’.
 * Chapter 24 (p. 318)


 * As a chemist, Vogel knew how to make a bomb. In fact, much of his training was to avoid making them by mistake.
 * Chapter 26 (p. 358)


 * This allowed me to do what writers treasure more than anything else: catch the reader off-guard. There’s nothing better than knowing you’re going to outwit with the reader. And the type of people who read sci-fi are very difficult to outwit.
 * An Essay from Andy Weir: How Science Made Me a Writer (pp. 385-386)