first, let me just say that this book is one of my all-time favorite books. I would even dare to say that it may even beat out Andy Weir's other most famous book "The Martian" . So what is the basic plot you ask? Well we all know how these things happen, the earth is inexplicably in trouble and all human life will end in a few years due to a cataclysmic event, and of course, a simple, quirky, funny, and yet nerdy-as-heck Middle School Science Teacher somehow gets roped into being recruited to save the human race. There is a great deal of whimsical and sometimes dad-joke humor that we saw in the Martian, but somehow this time it is even more impressive that you instantly feel this character is a real person with all the wonderful and all the flaws that a middle-aged man would have in this modern age. It does borrow heavily from many other science/space apocalyptic books, but this doe not detract from the power of this book to keep one engaged. My own wife while on a roa