PARTING SHOT
WRITER ANDY WEIR DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS A SCI-FI DORK “SINCE DAY one.” He was working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley when his first published book, The Martian, became a stunning success (more than 3 million copies sold to date). What had begun as serialized chapters posted on his blog turned into a book deal, followed by movie rights, followed by an Oscarnominated adaptation starring Matt Damon that earned $630 million worldwide.
Weir abandoned his former cubicle at a technology company somewhat reluctantly. “I liked computer programming a lot,” he tells Newsweek. “I was a happy little cubicle dweller. A lot of people use the expression ‘You’re just a cog in the machine.’ I’m like, Yeah, but if you take the cog out of the machine, the machine doesn’t work.”