An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

By: Chris Hadfield

Narrated by: Chris Hadfield

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth is an inspirational memoir of space exploration and hard-won wisdom, from an astronaut who has spent a lifetime making the impossible a reality.

Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4,000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft, and become a YouTube sensation with his performance of David Bowie's ‘Space Oddity' in space. The secret to Chris Hadfield's success - and survival - is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst - and enjoy every moment of it.

In his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield takes listeners deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerising wonder of spacewalks and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement - and happiness.

His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff. You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Colonel Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights in this book will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth - especially your own.

©2013 Chris Hadfield (P)2013 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Legendary!!!

Nicely done and documented experience of an astronaut and challenges that come with his way of living. Worthwhile listen for anyone livining on Earth.

It makes quite a different when the author reads i

Chris' book is really good, I was hooked up the first minute and I enjoyed it all the way through!

An awe inspiring book

To be honest I had never heard of Commander Hadfield. I stumbled uppon this book on the internet. What a piece of luck! Chris Hadfield takes us with him in a amazing voyage that zips through time, space, body and soul.
Like him I also saw the Moon landing as a child, and also wanted to be an astronaut. This book has helped me fullfill part of that dream, and gave me a different, better perspective of my life right here, on Earth. (I'm not a native speaker, apologies for misspelings and mistakes)

Real Quality Reading

Couldn’t stop listening to this.. To me the book was very inspiring and awaking healthy curiosity.
Wish I have read something like this at the age of 15, but it’s never too late :-)

A sensation to both read and listen

This is an excellent books not only for it's exceptionally recherché yet scintillating aphorisms it contains. Nonetheless, this book would be highly worthwhile to peruse.

Fantastic story read by the author with passion!

What made the experience of listening to An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth the most enjoyable?

Listening to the details of space life from the author himself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth?

Details of the re-entry of Chris Hadfield and his crew in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Which character – as performed by Chris Hadfield – was your favorite?

Himself!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really - it would have taken too long, but I liistened to it twice a day for a week and loved it.

An absolute must-listen to all the dreamers!

If there's one type of videos on YouTube that I can never get enough of, it's space themed videos about performing simple everyday life tasks in space. This book has those details – and so much more!

An absolute must-read (or rather, listen) for all the dreamers out there! Most of us won't ever get to go to space, but we can learn about it and get inspired to live on Earth by doing so.

The fact that Chris Hadfield himself narrates the book was the reason I've chosen an audiobook rather than a physical copy, and it didn't disappoint for a second. Loved it!

An awesome tale

Totally loved listening to this book: the voice is sincere and friendly, you almost feel like you're in a conversation with the author.
This is not a philosophy book, nor anything that tells you how you should behave... Chris just recounts his life and how he got through a wonderful range of experiences, as you'd expect from a long time friend.
Definitely one of the best books I've ever read!

Amazing view on competence, training and life

Would you consider the audio edition of An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth to be better than the print version?

Definitely.
I always loved Chris Hadfield, even more when he started doing youtube videos on his second trip to the ISS.

Having him to read his own story, with his own inputs was amazing.

He has passion in his voice and can express the feeling of what is happening in the book with vivid detail.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were plenty of those, how he views competitiveness, challenges and overall training and hard work, were to me at least, groundbreaking.

I never thought about the mindset he has, how he views the world and his job and dreams.

Any additional comments?

This book really lives up to the title.

I was expecting your run of the mill, shallow tale of daily life of an astronaut, with little to nothing I could or would be able to relate.

I was dead wrong.
This book was amazing and more than just a "Hey it's hard to be an astronaut", the way he views life is to me completely new, a completely different, better, point of view.

I'd buy everyone a copy of this book if I had the money.

Pretty good

Very interesting to hear from astronaut, all the things an astronaut goes through and how to apply some things learned im space here on earth