Endurance

The Book in 1 Sentence

A year in space looks a lot different when you learn about all the things in life and experience it takes to do it.

Brief Review

Scott Kelly provides a monotoned story whose content is what keeps you going. An incredible story of someone who really didn't know what to do until they were already in college. Kelly's story pacing is outstanding and the stories in the past help provide some clear understanding of the level of effort that this one year and space really required.

Why I Read this book

This showed up in the 2-for-1 Audible sale and who doesn't want to know about a year in space. Also, when I googled his name, the first thing that came up was "Space Gorilla." Now that I want to know about.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

This book was so informative and interesting. With most memoirs you have a climax that is introduced early in the book and then there is a lot of back and forth between "current" time and then the "past". This book does this is such a logical way that as I am writing this, it makes perfect sense as to why it was done this way. Following true time for Kelly throughout his life and then how those actions informed the next "past" time. I never put that together while reading it.

As a man who didn't find his plan or interest until what we now call "late in life," his life is full of "it can't hurt to try" events. What I mean is that his application to apply for multiple positions were on a whim to identify what the process was like not to actually apply. However, each time he got in. I believe that this was because of his more stoic and straight forward approach to actions and stress in front of him. I'll talk more about that below.

How my life/behavior/thoughts/ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

What really makes his story compelling is that everything was against him. Emotionally abusive home, poor grades in high school and the first year of college, and no idea what to do with life. However, he also head everything going for him. A mother that changed her career late in life to be a Police officer when they were first allowed to join, a twin that spoke to him straight when he needed it, and a no nonsense answer to challenges. I have been working through a book on stoicism and it talks about taking on what is in front of you. This is what Kelly does very well and even makes mention of it during the book.

The second thing I want to talk about is about handling things you don't want to do. Kelly in the book talks about what he does when presented with an option of something he isn't interested in doing, but isn't a terrible thing to do. You present your justification to why it isn't a good fit or isn't something you want to do once. If they ask you again, you say yes. You do this to provide them with reasons why you don't believe it is a good fit, but at the same time gives them the ability to change their mind without a fight. He explains it really well in the book and it will be something I will implement in my life moving forward.

Rating

I really enjoyed this book. Every kids dream at some point is to be an astronaut and this presents the process so well that I was excited to continue learning about it. Just so much information about all the actions involved. What really hurt this book is honestly in the narration because he is very tonal and there isn't a lot of emotion presented in the reading of the book. With all of that it is an easy 8.

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