Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
As a lifelong sci-fi nerd, Andy Weir must feel like he's won life. His novel, The Martian, was turned into a movie directed by Ridley Scott of Alien fame. That's like a high school football player receiving training from Joe Montana. But that's just the start—Scott actually requested that the script be sent into space on the ship Orion, which was a test run for the first manned trip to Mars. We're just glad they didn't leave the poor script behind. (Source)
If you're a diehard computer gamer, then the name Blizzard Studios should get you quite excited. This legendary developer has been behind some of the most successful games of all time, like StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. Well, it turns out that Andy Weir used to work for Blizzard before writing The Martian, contributing to 1995's Warcraft II. While that might not mean much to some of you, the nerdier among us are freaking out right now. (Source)
Although it's well known that Andy Weir worked as a scientist prior to writing The Martian, you might not realize how early the guy got started. Weir was only fifteen-years-old when he got his first position with Sandia National Laboratories as lab assistant. It's not like he was running the place or anything, but it's still an impressive feat for a dude who couldn't even drive yet. (Source)
Although popular message-board 4chan is usually considered the seedy underbelly of the Internet, the site played a big role in The Martian's success. Before The Martian became a national phenomenon, Weir wrote a flash fiction piece called "The Egg" which he released for free on his website. To his utter shock, the story blew up on sites like 4chan and Reddit, setting the stage for his future success. Who said that the Internet couldn't be a good thing? (Source)