An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I came across this book, it was just from reading the title that I thought it would be entirely about an Astronaut and his reflections on human life as per his experiences and thoughts from space had taught him.
I was disappointed quite early on that I could tell this wasn’t to be the case.
Chris Hadfield definitely does expound on some of the lessons he has learnt, but they are somewhat sporadic. The book is mostly a memoir/autobiography on how he became an Astronaut and the challenges he faced in training and in space itself.
I persisted in reading it, and while I am disappointed that the book is not what I thought it would be, I feel like I have a much deeper, realistic understanding of what really happens in space to Astronauts and how ‘Hollywood-ised’ the whole industry is made to seem. The reality is one of difficulty, hardship and as Chris Hadfield reiterates, learning and relearning Russian vocabulary.
The relatively low rating is for what I thought the book would be about, but if you read this with an understanding of what it actually is, you will enjoy it.
Overall, I dont regret reading this despite my misunderstanding and I feel like the snippets of wisdom and reflections peppered here and there have definitely been a benefit to me.