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baimeeker's review against another edition
5.0
I highly recommend this book. He's got some great advice on how to work well in a group and how to achieve your goals.
mollimoll's review against another edition
5.0
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. An easy and joyful read, it straddles the line between memoir and a self improvement book. Hadfield gives a rare honest glimpse into the life of an astronaut while sharing clever philosophies that can be applied to many different situations, even for those of us that don’t work at NASA.
smokingtrombone's review against another edition
5.0
A great look into the training regiment of the astronaut corp, life on the ISS, and the personal life and philosophies of the man that got me back into spaceflight: Chris Hadfield.
It was fascinating hearing about all of the training that is involved in going to space and the experiments they do once they're there. You bet your ass there are multiple pages dedicated to just urine collection!
But this is also a very personal book about a man very much grounded (pun intended) in reality. Chris did not shy away from the toll it took on his family and the mental fortitude it takes to handle life-or-death scenarios. The stories did leave astronauts less mysterious, they still made their feats much more impressive.
All-in-all, I would highly recommend this book for everyone even if someone doesn't have an interest in space. There are plenty of good lessons about preparing for big events, living in the moment, and how to properly move on (or parachute down in Chris' case).
It was fascinating hearing about all of the training that is involved in going to space and the experiments they do once they're there. You bet your ass there are multiple pages dedicated to just urine collection!
But this is also a very personal book about a man very much grounded (pun intended) in reality. Chris did not shy away from the toll it took on his family and the mental fortitude it takes to handle life-or-death scenarios. The stories did leave astronauts less mysterious, they still made their feats much more impressive.
All-in-all, I would highly recommend this book for everyone even if someone doesn't have an interest in space. There are plenty of good lessons about preparing for big events, living in the moment, and how to properly move on (or parachute down in Chris' case).
dinsdale's review against another edition
3.0
I think the subtitle of the book sums the book up pretty well: what going to space taught me about ingenuity, determination, and being prepared for everything. The book focuses on these three things in Chris's life as a young astronaut wanna-be through his final stint in space as the Commander of the ISS for five months. I thought the parts which took place in space were the most interesting. I forgot that Chris spent time on the Mir as well as the ISS, and flew on the Space Shuttle and the Soyuz. His description of the Soyuz flights were especially interesting, I can't recall reading any other accounts of Soyuz experiences. I was surprised to read how physically hard life was for Chris after he returned from five months on the ISS. It made me wonder how future Mars astronauts would fare someday. After reading the book I re-watched his Space Oddity video, which he recorded on the ISS. I forgot how great that was. Good stuff. Recommended for fans of space travel.
mfox1018's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this. Not only was it an absolutely fascinating look at the less-publicized aspects of space travel, but Hadfield's perspectives on perseverance and success are really quite insightful and valuable. I want all of my middle schoolers to read this!
kbstein's review against another edition
3.0
A good autobiography with valuable wisdom sprinkled throughout. If you like space and stuff this should be an interesting read.
sareasley's review against another edition
3.0
Parts were fascinating but I found the "guide" aspect a little tiresome and self important. Overall Hadfield is about as humble and "down-to-Earth" as an astronaut can be, but the book could still get a little preachy at times.
blueisthenewpink's review against another edition
5.0
Usually, I’m not really into space and astronaut stuff but this is a highly enjoyable book. It’s as interesting and funny as Colonel Hadfield’s Twitter and Facebook updates, and YouTube videos. It is also very personal. After all, we follow his life from him watching the first men (Buzz Aldrin is the name of the second one, please remember that) step on the Moon to his retirement after being commander of the International Space Station. However, at times it seemed to be a bit repetitive. Maybe that is why I couldn’t read more than one chapter at a time, despite all the interesting stories being told.
He described launch so vividly, I actually felt like I experienced it myself. Which makes me think about the repetitions. Maybe it was deliberate, to show the reader how uninteresting (and repetitive) the mundane reality of being an astronaut is. We are told, over and over again that an astronaut spends most of his time on Earth, and it is good, and important. Maybe he never leaves the planet which is okay. Of course, going to space is what everyone wishes for but even that is not heroic, and life after it is not boring at all. They are preparing for years, practicing every movement they will be making, they plan for the worst, study long and hard, and are humble servants of a greater purpose only. Towards the end, I started to wonder who he was trying to convince. Me or himself? For most of the book, I believed him but by the last chapter, I felt he was really labouring the point.
Anyway, I think this is a wonderful path; from watching the first Moon landing on TV as a kid, through highly conscious career choices and hard work, taking part in the installation of a robotic arm that helped build the International Space Station (ISS) which he becomes the commander of in the end.
It is full of great life lessons (they would make superb memes) and really interesting details, all told with a brilliant sense of humour. I was especially fascinated by the effects of being in space on the human body. From the fact they are wearing diapers at launch because it may take much longer than expected, through the nausea everyone experiences at first, to the results of living in zero gravity for months. Without the pull of gravitational force, their muscles weaken, of course. But also their hearts! Their hearts even shrink. Their spines, on the other hand, elongate. Coming back to Earth, then, after spending months floating in a peaceful, quiet environment with only a couple of other humans is like being a newborn, he says. After a rather tough ride, they are faced with all the noise, the people, the rush, and merciless gravity. “No wonder babies cry in protest when they’re born.” – says Hadfield.
Oh, and he’s afraid of heights. The ex-commander of the ISS. Would you believe that?
He described launch so vividly, I actually felt like I experienced it myself. Which makes me think about the repetitions. Maybe it was deliberate, to show the reader how uninteresting (and repetitive) the mundane reality of being an astronaut is. We are told, over and over again that an astronaut spends most of his time on Earth, and it is good, and important. Maybe he never leaves the planet which is okay. Of course, going to space is what everyone wishes for but even that is not heroic, and life after it is not boring at all. They are preparing for years, practicing every movement they will be making, they plan for the worst, study long and hard, and are humble servants of a greater purpose only. Towards the end, I started to wonder who he was trying to convince. Me or himself? For most of the book, I believed him but by the last chapter, I felt he was really labouring the point.
Anyway, I think this is a wonderful path; from watching the first Moon landing on TV as a kid, through highly conscious career choices and hard work, taking part in the installation of a robotic arm that helped build the International Space Station (ISS) which he becomes the commander of in the end.
It is full of great life lessons (they would make superb memes) and really interesting details, all told with a brilliant sense of humour. I was especially fascinated by the effects of being in space on the human body. From the fact they are wearing diapers at launch because it may take much longer than expected, through the nausea everyone experiences at first, to the results of living in zero gravity for months. Without the pull of gravitational force, their muscles weaken, of course. But also their hearts! Their hearts even shrink. Their spines, on the other hand, elongate. Coming back to Earth, then, after spending months floating in a peaceful, quiet environment with only a couple of other humans is like being a newborn, he says. After a rather tough ride, they are faced with all the noise, the people, the rush, and merciless gravity. “No wonder babies cry in protest when they’re born.” – says Hadfield.
Oh, and he’s afraid of heights. The ex-commander of the ISS. Would you believe that?