Whitney Atkinson's Reviews > An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

I started this book just because I needed an audiobook to listen to as I got ready in the morning and drove to work, and this one was available. For backstory, I’m obsessed with NASA’s youtube channel. If you haven’t watched their videos about how astronauts live in space—showering, eating, sleeping, etc.—I highly recommend you do so, because it’s SO fascinating!! Particularly, one of the most common faces on those videos is Chris Hadfield, whose name I knew because of the channel and subsequently made me want to pick up his book!

The word “guide” in the title of this book was a bit misleading, because it was actually almost a story of Chris’s journey to outer space and back. There was advice sprinkled throughout, but it was really from his standpoint as an astronaut rather than telling the reader how to live their life on Earth. Nevertheless, it read as a great memoir.

I think this book was so fascinating. I listened to 7 out of 8 hours of it in one sitting. Chris narrates the audiobook, and he made his book sound like a story he was telling to a friend, riddled with emotional moments, as well as funny ones. This book perfectly captures the grandeur of being in space—a place where so few people have been—but then being able to relate the experience to things the readers may understand. I was excited he talked about filming videos aboard the ISS and how he went viral, because I recognized several of the videos he’d talked about that I’ve already seen myself. This book was everything I wanted that wasn’t just a restatement of what I’ve seen in those videos.

The most stand-out part of this is a section where he talks about managing fear. Backstory: outer space is my most irrational, illogical fear. I’m never going to be required to go there, nor do I intend to ever pursue a career in the sky, but for some reason, even looking up into the sky for too long and thinking about going to space or watching a movie about space travel gives me anxiety. It just sounds like a horrifying, dangerous experience that I would never volunteer for. Chris talks about how one of his most frequently asked questions is “How do you manage with fear?” and questions relating to his nerves about going to space and managing crises. His response to this and the way that he discusses managing fears and being prepared and maintaining a healthy level of pessimism while still pursuing the best outcome was actually touching. It was interesting to hear about how he manages the mental and physical strains of being in space, and even though I’m never going to be in his situation and that’s why this book was such an eye-opening book for me, it still gave me a lot to take away as far as getting along with people in a team and how to be a strong, reliable leader.

I hate sci-fi and science, so I was pleased that this didn’t linger too much on those fronts at all. There was a lot of explanation of the crafts and procedures they do while on board, but it was actually fascinating rather than laborious to read about. It’ll especially be cool to think about in 50 years when technology has far surpassed what he describes in this book.

If you’re looking to get into a memoir that explores the life of someone extraordinary who does extraordinary things yet still stays humble and true in his account of it, I highly recommend this. It was fantastically narrated and will definitely be a read I ponder for months and maybe even years to come. (But even if you don’t read it, I do recommend looking up those NASA videos on youtube and seeing how people do things in zero gravity. It’s my fascination even though the prospect of being in their shoes terrifies me.)