An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Wow. Just wow. I woke up far earlier than I wanted to this morning, so I picked up one of the nonfiction books I had from the library, expecting it to put me back to sleep. Three hours later I was still awake, nearly done with the book, and absolutely enthralled. I'm not sure why I thought it would be otherwise – I'd been one of the millions fascinated with Hadfield's videos and tweets when he was Commander of the ISS. His particular voice is very clear throughout this book. In 284 pages he takes us from his childhood, through his career path to becoming an astronaut, to his 5 months in the International Space Station, and back home. Nothing felt rushed, nothing felt like it didn't get the attention it deserved. I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of my favorite books of 2017 – I have several months to read more things, but this book just absolutely blew me away.

It does appeal to how I like to read about science, though. I love reading about scientists. How they worked, how they made their discoveries, the paths they took. Who they were. I'm less interested in the actual science. This is part of why I loved A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, so much. I borrowed that book from the library and read it cover to cover, fascinated. Finally had to buy my own copy.

Hadfield took space exploration and made it accessible to everyone. According to the book, he didn't even quite realize how big of an impact he was making at first. But between tweeting pictures from the ISS, making videos of how different life was in space, and making music videos, he really did become the most well-known astronaut of our generation. I remember putting his video of I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing) on repeat when it came out – and it STILL gives me chills today.

One thing he keeps coming back to in his book is his philosophy of trying to be a zero. That doesn't sound very ambitious on the surface – but what he means is you can be one of three things in a group. You can be a negative impact (a -1) a neutral impact (a zero) or a positive impact (a +1). If you try to be a +1, it's far likelier that you'll try too hard, fuck up, and instead become a negative impact. So aim to be a zero. And most of the time you'll wind up as a positive impact. I thought that was a very unique philosophy.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

I listened to this audiobook immediately after finishing the audiobook of Spaceman by Mike Massimino. Both audiobooks are narrated by the author. The two memoirs are excellent and—despite the overlapping subject matter—complementary, showing different facets of space exploration:

Mike is American and thought he was born in the wrong town to become an astronaut, whereas Chris is Canadian and thought he was born in the wrong country.

Both went to battle against the medical examiners, one for his eyes, and the other for his gut.

Mike was a civilian mission specialist, and Chris was a military fighter pilot and test pilot.

Mike spacewalked on two Hubble repair missions, but he avoided the Soyuz and never visited the International Space Station. Chris also flew the shuttle but spends more time discussing his long duration expedition on the ISS and his experience on the Soyuz.

Mike worked for NASA public relations. He is an enthralling storyteller with a rosy, endearing perception of his experiences, infusing so much meaning into every step of his journey. Chris's style is a tad less romanticized, and he uses a series of anecdotes to deliver life lessons to those of us who are earthbound.

Both books were great. Be sure to also check out Chris's viral music video of “Space Oddity” and his excellent vignettes on YouTube showing everyday human activities aboard the ISS.