An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Colonel Chris Hadfield has approximately 4,000 hours in space under his belt despite having trained as an astronaut for decades. He has used a Swiss army knife to break into a space station, killed a live snake while flying a jet, and momentarily lost his sight while hanging to the outside of an orbiting spaceship during this period. Col. Hadfield's survival and success may be attributed to an unusual mindset he picked up at NASA: expect the worst but relish every second of it.

Col. Hadfield shows readers how to do the seemingly impossible by delving deeply into his years of training and space travel in An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth. He illustrates how conventional wisdom may stand in the way of success and pleasure via thought-provoking, amusing tales that capture the excitement of launch, the hypnotic wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, composed reactions required by crises. He has learned several surprising lessons from his own exceptional space schooling, including not to picture achievement, to care about other people's opinions, and to constantly worry over the little things.

Like Col. Hadfield, you may never be able to construct a robot, operate a spaceship, create a music video, or carry out simple surgery in zero gravity. However, his sharp and energizing observations will teach you how to think like an astronaut and fundamentally alter the way you see life on Earth, particularly your own.