Artemis
JASMINE BASHARA never signed up to be a hero. She just wanted to get rich. Not crazy, eccentric-billionaire rich, like many of the visitors to her hometown of Artemis, humanity's first and only lunar colony. Just rich enough to move out of her coffin-sized apartment and eat something better than flavored algae. Rich enough to pay off a debt she's owed for a long time. So when a chance at a huge score finally comes her way, Jazz can't say no. Sure, it requires her to graduate from small-time smuggler to full-on criminal mastermind. And it calls for a particular combination of cunning, technical skills, and large explosions--not to mention sheer brazen swagger. But Jazz has never run into a challenge her intellect can't handle, and she figures she's got the "swagger" part down. The trouble is, engineering the perfect crime is just the start of Jazz's problems. Because her little heist is about to land her in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself. Trapped between competing forces, pursued by a killer and the law alike, even Jazz has to admit she's in way over her head. She'll have to hatch a truly spectacular scheme to have a chance at staying alive and saving her city. Jazz is no hero, but she is a very good criminal. That'll have to do.
Stats for nerds
19recommend
52mentions
48people
2018–2026years
38% recommend56% neutral6% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The Silo series by Hugh Howey -- some excellent sci-fi to go along with the show
The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown -- lots of sci-fi fun, extremely epic
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King -- King's "Lord of the Rings" opus, great writing, ending maybe a little unsatisfying but not abnormal
Artemis - Andy Weir's first book -- Fun read about a heist on the moon. Anticipating Project Hail Mary movie early next year!
Currently in the middle of: The Talisman - Stephen King / Peter Straub
- Without giving too much away, you would probably enjoy “Artemis” by Andy Weir.
- Maybe some fiction with facts? You might like "Andy Weir" (sci-fi)
- Project Hail Mary
- Artemis
- The Martian
Maybe watch the movie "The Martian" first if you don't want to commit. As always, the books are better.
Also "I Robot" by Asimov is short stories. (Not like the movie)
- I'd like to put in a recommendation for Andy Weir. The Martian and Project Hail Mary are the two I've read, but I'm told Artemis is also worth it. He does an excellent job at structing novels around very realistic troubleshooting and engineering. They tend to focus on the technical side of things, not the cultural, however, so it may not be what you're looking for.
- If you’re into Science Fiction:
(Note: I listed to these all via the Audible audiobooks, they were all very well narrated and I’d highly recommend listening this way.)
#1: The Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
This is amazingly fascinating from beginning to end, if you like speculative evolution zenofiction space operas, you’re in for a real treat. I feel like these books were written for me. I went the audiobook route and chugged through each (roughly 600 page) book, neglecting focus to almost anything else in my life. I would be playing Tetris on my phone (via the Tappy app) while listening at 1.1x speed, which is the perfect amount of mental stimulation to have massive amounts of time go by without noticing.
#2: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
I don’t want to spoil too much, but this is a must-read for engineer-brain nerds like me that yearn to understand complex systems recreationally. Enough said. Mandatory. I read Artemis by Andy Weir afterwards and enjoyed it too, but Hail Mary is my fave.
#3: The Final Architecture series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
After obsessively finishing the Children of Time series there was a huge hole in my heart, so I started this series. I didn’t really latch on until 15% through the first book, but once I did I was once again obsessively hooked.
#4 (Bonus) I’m now reading Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward and am very excited to report back when I eventually finish. It involves alien life that evolved in the atomic strata of neutron stars (nerd drool).
I’ve now mostly taken a break from reading as it became all-consuming. But it was very worth it overall, best reading year in my life so far.
- Burn Rate - written by Andy Dunn, the founder of Bonobos. It’s part startup story part mental health story. It’s very well written and goes into deep detail about his struggle with bi-polar disorder.
Project Hail Mary, The Martian, and Artemis - science fiction books by Andy Weir. All very different and very technical. I like Project Hail Mary the most. One of the best sci-fi books I’ve ever read.
Turn the Ship Around, by David Marquet. It’s a story about turning followers into leaders from the perspective of a military submarine captain. I’ve read dozens of management and leadership book over the years, but this one really resonated with me.
