Review: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield quickly became one of my favorite books while reading/listening to it. I decided to go through this book using both audiobook and written word. I chose to listen to the audiobook because I saw that it was narrated by Chris Hadfield himself; I couldn't think of a better way to hear about his experiences and thoughts than with his tone and delivery, his emotion through spoken word. I read along sometimes and often reviewed specific chapters just so I could highlight a passage that had caught my attention.

This book is itself a journey with Chris in becoming an astronaut and, as such, there are many lessons learned along the way. In fact, there are so many bits of life-applicable information, that I can only select a small few to include coherently in this review. For example, Chris presents a useful metaphor regarding "attitude":

In space flight, "attitude" refers to orientation: which direction your vehicle is pointing relative to the Sun, Earth and other spacecraft. If you lose control of your attitude, two things happen: the vehicle starts to tumble and spin, disorienting everyone on board, and it also strays from its course, which, if you’re short on time or fuel, could mean the difference between life and death. In the Soyuz, for example, we use every cue from every available source—periscope, multiple sensors, the horizon—to monitor our attitude constantly and adjust if necessary. We never want to lose attitude, since maintaining attitude is fundamental to success. In my experience, something similar is true on Earth. Ultimately, I don’t determine whether I arrive at the desired professional destination. Too many variables are out of my control. There’s really just one thing I can control: my attitude during the journey, which is what keeps me feeling steady and stable, and what keeps me headed in the right direction. So I consciously monitor and correct, if necessary, because losing attitude would be far worse than not achieving my goal.

I had read one review of this book as being like a dad-talk and, after reading it, I agree. That said, it is not a patronizing lecture; Chris words are encouraging and uplifting. The kind of dad-talk that motivates you and kindles your spirit. His words are far from "I'm an astronaut, literally and figuratively above you." Instead, they are like this passage:

Fundamentally, life off Earth is in two important respects not at all unworldly: You can choose to focus on the surprises and pleasures, or the frustrations. And you can choose to appreciate the smallest scraps of experience, the everyday moments, or to value only the grandest, most stirring ones. Ultimately, the real question is whether you want to be happy. I didn’t need to leave the planet to find the right answer. But knowing what it was definitely helped me love life off Earth.

Reading this book was a wonderful way to transition into the new year. I highly recommend this book and I'm already looking forward to reading it again in the future.

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Metric Day the easy way

Today is the 10th of October. As with previous years, I choose to recognize today as "Metric Day". I last wrote an article about Metric Day in 2011 and, in the time since then, I've noticed that many people in the United States of America are becoming more comfortable with the International System of Units (SI) [Wikipedia]. I'm not suggesting that those individuals are comfortable with its use, but it certainly seems that a growing number of people are recognizing the convenience of it in our global community. (Similar to the change I have witnessed in the public opinion of Daylight Saving Time.)

The use of SI is wide-spread and those who are unfamiliar with SI find themselves somewhat isolated in a growing global community. Today, I hope to provide some easy-to-remember tips to those individuals who are curious about SI, but are reluctant to adopt its use.

Conversationally, we often discuss the environment and our own comfort within it. As a result, common units of temperature are often cited and discussed. Rather than wrestle with a more accurate mental conversion or calculating one using a computer, try to remember the tips below; it might speed your conversational comprehension and free up your mind for the social aspect of agreeing that 30°C is rather warm.

QUICK TEMPERATURE CONVERSION

F minus 30, divided by 2 ≈ C
C multiplied by 2, add 30 ≈ F

People find themselves discussing distances internationally for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you or someone you know is in the US military and stationed abroad. Or maybe you have a friend interested in joining you on a 5 kilometer run, but they hesitate because they're only comfortable running 3 miles. I hope the quick methods below will help you or your friend adjust quickly to the measurement most familiar.

QUICK DISTANCE OR SPEED CONVERSION

mi divided by 5, multiplied by 8 ≈ km
km divided by 8, multiplied by 5 ≈ mi

ANOTHER (LESS ACCURATE) DISTANCE OR SPEED CONVERSION

mi divided by 3, multiplied by 5 ≈ km
km divided by 5, multiplied by 3 ≈ mi
(This second set of distance conversions might be noticeably less accurate for numbers higher than 10)

Technology has allowed our ever-growing population to become evermore connected. Borders and boundaries begin to fade in meaning as we correspond and collaborate with people instantaneously, regardless of our location or theirs in world. In a world of dizzying communication, using the same measurement "language" is the difference between clarity and confusion.

Countdown 2011

In ten minutes the last seconds of 2011 will pass at the International Date Line. If you're a fan of pop music, you may enjoy spending the last 5 minutes of 2011 watching/listening this "mashup of the 25 biggest hits" over the last year.


URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ail7D_k0s9w

The rest of the world still has a little under 24 hours to reflect on the year 2011 before the calendar change happens. As you reflect on this last year, remember the message I shared in August that "This is your Life".
You may also wish to reflect on some of the other subjects I touched on over this past year:

- A human population of 7 billion
- Fear
- Need
- Survival
- Alchemy
- Understanding
- "Privacy and control"
- "Politics, Religion, and Sex"

2011: The year of 7 billion

2011-01-01 0:00:00 UTC
Welcome to the year 2011*!

This year, the human population of our planet will reach 7 billion.
That fact alone is immensely significant, considering our population was only 2 billion 81 years ago.

National Geographic is launching a seven part series "Population 7 Billion" to draw attention to the impact of our species' growth on Earth. (I've embedded the 3 minute promo video in this post.)


YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0

As the promo points out, it's not that there isn't enough space; it's that we, as a species, lack a balance for our planet to sustain us at our current growth rate. Allow me to paraphrase it another way....

If we were the essential bacteria within one's digestive tract, we've long passed the point of helping our host with necessary process of digestion and have become an internal infection: We would be killing our host. (Mutualism vs. Parasitism [wikipedia])

In the year 2011, resolve to becoming an organism who seeks the balance of a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with Earth and the other approximately 6,999,999,999 people on it.

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* 2011 actually began for Earth 14 hours ago in Kiritimati, Christmas Island, Kiribati [Time and Date.com]; Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the standard international time reference, therefore I'm using it.

Groundhog Day 2007

Good morning and happy Groundhog Day!

Believe it or not, Groundhog Day is actually my favorite holiday. Groundhog Day to me is my New Year celebration. No, I don't mean that my calendar begins on February 2nd, I mean that this is the day that I set new goals and aspirations for myself in the coming year. This is a practice very similar to making resolutions on January 1st of each year, but also a rebellion against that as -- stereotypically -- people tend to lose interest or faith in their New Year's resolutions.

My Groundhog Day is a day to catch yourself in your faultering and reset. Get back on track and hit this year running! And this year you might even get an extra bonus as Punxsutawney Phil (the most famous prognosticating groundhog) has predicted an early spring for 2007.

Happy Groundhog Day!