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A review by wintrovia
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me about Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield
4.0
This is the life story of astronaut Chris Hadfield, not the lead singer of Metallica James Hetfield, for some reason the two names get mixed up in my mind.
The title is a bit misleading as it’s not really a guide to life on earth, it’s more a biography of his life. This is a definite bonus, as I’d much rather hear about his interesting life rather than bland motivational cliches.
There are moments in the book where Hadfield tries to translate the things he learned in space into broader life lessons but these don’t quite work for me and I was pleased that they were fairly few and far between.
I loved reading about the process he went through from being a kid that dreamed of becoming an astronaut to being the commander on the International Space Station. It makes you realise how many years of dedication and hard work go into preparing for these brief stints that astronauts spend up in space.
Hadfield’s an affable kind of chap and the book is full of self-deprecating humour and he seems like a very nice man. This makes the book good company and his style is very conversational and easy to follow.
It’s a strange criticism to make but one slight weakness of the book is the lack of drama and tension. This isn’t because he’s a poor author and more because he’s an excellent astronaut. So the anecdotes he tells rarely end in disaster or mayhem, it’s usually just a case of things going wrong, they work out a solution, then they put their plan into action. So it’s not a thrill ride of near death escapes, just an enjoyable account of the day to day activity of an astronaut.
The title is a bit misleading as it’s not really a guide to life on earth, it’s more a biography of his life. This is a definite bonus, as I’d much rather hear about his interesting life rather than bland motivational cliches.
There are moments in the book where Hadfield tries to translate the things he learned in space into broader life lessons but these don’t quite work for me and I was pleased that they were fairly few and far between.
I loved reading about the process he went through from being a kid that dreamed of becoming an astronaut to being the commander on the International Space Station. It makes you realise how many years of dedication and hard work go into preparing for these brief stints that astronauts spend up in space.
Hadfield’s an affable kind of chap and the book is full of self-deprecating humour and he seems like a very nice man. This makes the book good company and his style is very conversational and easy to follow.
It’s a strange criticism to make but one slight weakness of the book is the lack of drama and tension. This isn’t because he’s a poor author and more because he’s an excellent astronaut. So the anecdotes he tells rarely end in disaster or mayhem, it’s usually just a case of things going wrong, they work out a solution, then they put their plan into action. So it’s not a thrill ride of near death escapes, just an enjoyable account of the day to day activity of an astronaut.