An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield

Five Things We Liked About An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth:

Dany: uuuuhm. Space is cool?

Actually, we already knew that, but this book really hammered it down.

1. Passion, passion, passion. Chris Hadfield loves his job, he loves learning, and most of all, he loves what he does, which in this book is bringing and sharing information about being an astronaut to the public. His enthusiasm, passion and interest were infectious.
   

   Dany: I just really took a liking to him. I wanted to pinch his cheeks.
   Rosey: and of course, now I’m thinking about how he was a tiny child, being all “well let’s be ready to be an astronaut!”, just in case!

   We both felt that there were some technical errors in the book, but we happily over looked them for the sake of the way he presented information, and part of that was how the passion bled on to the page. You never once doubted that he was invested fully in doing something he loved. As writers, we totally connected with this feeling. You’re always told to love what you’re writing — and if you can show it, it can make up for any technical problems because enthusiasm will encourage others to help you.

2. Insight into NASA. Not to get into our October books, but since we did read The Martian after this book, it was fascinating to see the way that NASA worked, and really get insight into their programs (so we could complain about that in The Martian… but only a little). We got a look at Chris’s path into NASA and into becoming an astronaut. It was fascinating to see the underpinnings of something that most people view as cowboys in space, when in reality, most astronauts are good at a lot of things so that their skills can overlap (good enough scientists, for example).
3. Inspiring. In more ways than one:
   

   Rosey: And I suddenly have an idea for a novel about astronauts who have to watch the world getting destroyed from the safety of ISS…

   Both of us agreed on this being a great self help type book. Hadfield brought up a lot things that we could apply with ease to writing, and living: being ready for things, just in case, preparing and imagining possibilities, and how you’ll deal with them, and doing what you love, not for some future goal, but for the sake of mastering, and loving that thing.

   Dany: I mean, I knew it was supposed to be really good but I guess I’m more surprised by the fact that it was more inspirational than other self help books I’ve read. It was a book about him and how he views life and less a book about “this is what you should do to feel better”. And somehow that made it better, because it takes off pressure?
   Rosey: yeah, and it wasn’t preachy: “do this or you’ll be a FAILURE”. I mean, occasionally it was preachy, but in ways I agree with, so it’s easy for me to be all “SO GOOD! PREACH TO THIS CHOIR MAN!”

4. His familial relationships. Both Dany and I were touched and affected by the way he and his family dealt with him being an astronaut. Though we both agree we would never want to be the daughters of astronauts, I really liked reading about Chris and his wife, and their fundamentally stable and supportive relationship.
   

   Dany: Helene called him out on it when he seemed to disappear and just work. It just feels like that his family works very well, and he really did/does try to better himself and be around and, y’know, listens.
   Rosey: You can totally see why astronauts have a hard time with relationships.

   The way that Chris dealt with the difficulties of being deeply and intensely in love with his work and also wanting to spend time with his family were interesting and touching. He knew the risks, and so did they, and he wasn’t always perfect. But by having a loving support system around him, he was able to achieve his dreams, and even have successful relationships with his family. It seemed that he had truly thought about how to make up for his absences and often over shadowing the rest of his family, and that thought was sweet and loving.
   We also enjoyed Evan, his son, helping him with social media. Clearly Chris managed to pass on his passion, even if Evan’s passion was in a different place.

   Dany: I loved how Evan handled the social media bit, and just totally nerded out, and how it helped bring attention to the space program, and got so many people interested again.

5. Silly times, and serious times. When you read enough, sometimes it feels like so many books are all about how things are terrible, people the worst, and the world running into a wall hard and fast. But this book was uplifting, funny and sweet. There were moments of humor (when you listen to it, Chris’s Canadian accent really comes through in such a sweet and earnest way) and moments of danger (like when he described an incident during an EVA where his eyes started watering, highly dangerous in zero-gravity), but you could feel that Chris felt it was all worth it. And it makes the book satisfying and wonderful, giving you a lightness at the end. There are so many smart, brilliant people, trying to bring us a new understanding of our place in the universe, and we’re grateful that they have so much hope for us.

Dany’s rating: 5/5 stars
Rosey’s rating: 5/5 stars