Book info

• Title An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
• Author Chris Hadfield
• Year 2013
• Genre Memoir

In his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement – and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counter-intuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff.

Thoughts

It’s interesting, really, that these days there aren’t that many famous astronauts. It’s no less glamorous a job, or one sought after by kids gazing up at the night sky, but it’s definitely become a more mundane concept - there are people constantly orbiting the earth, living in space, what of it?

Chris Hadfield broke the mould a little, not only with his super famous David Bowie cover, but also by giving so much access to the life of an astronaut, before, during and after space travel. This book is a fantastic extension of those efforts, providing an insight in the kind of ordered mind it takes to get into space and to do good work there.

In parts, this comes across as a self-help book with stacks of advice about how to work well with colleagues, how to maximise your experiences, how to get ahead in your job, and most of all, how to have a healthy attitude towards life. But more than that, it’s got fantastic information about the behind the scenes efforts of getting humans into space - it’s not just about those three people floating around the ISS, there’s so much preparation and so much groundwork to be done too.

I can only recommend this as an inspiring and eye-opening account of the best of human endeavour.

Rating: 5 / 5