Originally written for hobby blog on 23 March 2018
One of my close friends often accuses me of liking “boring” things. I enjoy playing walking sims, watching documentaries, and reading poetry in my downtime. When I, in an offhand fashion, mentioned that I had been “poetry-ed out” after having read several poetry books in a row, that close friend lent me his copy of this book as well as the last in the trilogy of Mass Effect novels, but today we are focusing on Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life.
I would say that Hadfield’s novel is one part memoir, one part educational tool, one part self-help book. While Hadfield’s story from when he decided to become an astronaut as a child up to the point he retired from going into space is the backbone of the novel, Hadfield uses his life to impart wisdom and explain the complex operations and duties of being an astronaut in a very easy, approachable manner for the average-Joe reader who may know nothing about space or how we get there.
While I find most self-help books condescending, I don’t feel that in An Astronaut’s Guide. This could be because much of Hadfield’s advice is based on his own personal philosophy and experiences while also eschewing so-called conventional wisdom. Hadfield tells us to think like an astronaut, we do have to sweat the small stuff and sometimes we do have to think negatively on what the worst possible outcome might be. Hadfield briefly mentions the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, and it perfectly illustrates both these points again and again. The worst can happen, and with the Challenger, it did. Because of one, tiny, dysfunctional O-ring, seven people died. When space is involved, life or death is a constant question you have to prepare for. There were some moments Hadfield came off as preachy to me, but that could just be my personal preference.
If you looked at the Canadian Space Agency YouTube channel, Chris Hadfield is a regular star, answering questions about everyday life on the ISS. That passion is more than reflected in An Astronaut’s Guide. He somehow manages to make the very complex simple, and I certainly appreciated learning about space from him. Regardless of how accomplished the man is, he just feels like your average guy when you see him in those YouTube videos or reading his book.
I mentioned earlier how Hadfield seems to use the story of his life as a springboard to talk about his personal philosophy and share sweet, sweet space knowledge, but his life story is no less fascinating, least of all because he admits that a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time helped him, but is certainly not the end of it. Hadfield displays humility in his writing, almost to an infuriating level in my opinion, considering his achievements. Behind that humility though you see an immensely driven person who does not shy away from talking about how the positives and negatives of being an astronaut affected his life on familial, health, and professional levels.
If you have any interest in space, let alone Canada’s place and involvement in space exploration, this is definitely the book for you. You may come for the education and self-help, but you’ll stay because it’s Hadfield’s friendly voice guiding the way.
Some Quick Stats:
Author: Chris Hadfield
Published: 29 October 2013, Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 309