Endurance: My Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery

I enjoyed the writing. The book was very easy to read and a page turner. Scott should run for office he has quite a History of achievements.

Well done Scott Kelly, well done.Scott shares his whole life within these pages. Everything from growing up in New Jersey, his marriages, his travels, military career, and his time in space. I learned so much from reading this book. I thought his stories were exciting, and I didn’t want to put this book down.Here’s a few things that caught my attention.The chapters in this book don’t have any titles, and Scott, the author, jumped from one time period to another, so that confused me at first, but then it became easier and kind of neat to get different perspectives of his life.I was amazed and surprised that Scott did so poorly in school and was able to buckle down and do the work needed to make him eligible to be an astronaut.I was so encouraged how the Americans and Russians put their differences aside and worked together and became true friends; in addition, there were many differences in their equipment, procedures and expectations.For example, “The Russian space agency has a much different system for compensating their cosmonauts than we do: Their base salaries are much lower, but they get paid bonuses for each day they fly in space. (I get only five dollars per diem, but my base salary is much better.) However, their bonuses are decreased whenever they make “mistakes,” those mistakes defined rather arbitrarily. I suspect that complaining, even making very legitimate complaints, can be defined as a mistake, costing them money and, potentially, the chance to fly in space again.” This seems very risky.I’m so excited about the experiments they are doing on the space station. Scott Kelly told us that he was involved in over 400 different experiments during his stay and most of them dealt with effects of gravity, but the life changing results of these experiments are well worth the expense. These include learning about aging, our vision, cardiovascular health, and so much more. The list of experiments they are doing in space is way too long to include, but I would encourage you to read this book. It’s so worth it.On the lighter side, one of the astronauts even brought his bagpipe with him and woke up Scott one morning playing his bagpipe and Scoot loved it. Scott also loves classical music and brought his iPad with him to listen to Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Struss to name a few. Scott also lived in Russia for a couple of years at Star City, which is Russia’s John F Kennedy’s Space Center equivalent.I never realized how many sites NASA had such as Ames in California, Glenn in Ohio, Goddard in Maryland, Michoud in Louisiana, Marshall in Alabama, headquarters in D.C., Kennedy in Florida.Regarding Mars, Scott shared that 2033 is a reasonable launch date for Mars, but that is not set in stone and needs to be continuously updated.In conclusion, I want to share this quote from Scoot Kelly that touched me. “I always think about what it meant to me to read The Right Stuff as a young man. I feel certain that I wouldn’t have done any of the things I have if I hadn’t read that book—if Tom Wolfe hadn’t written it. On a quiet Saturday afternoon, I called Tom Wolfe to thank him. He sounded truly amazed to hear from me.” Books change lives for the better. I wish more people loved books as much as I love books.

I have two paths of reaction to this book. On the one hand, it was extremely interesting to read a first hand account of the path to being an astronaut -- the educational path, the selection process, the training. Also that there are different paths that impact one's interest and role in space: test pilot vs. scientist. I was truly ignorant without a thought about the differences between the space shuttle era, and the space station era. I didn't know anything about the space station or it's development until reading this, nor did I have any interest at all. But after reading this book I spent a few hours watching every video I could find that toured the space station, or demonstrated how astronauts do everyday tasks in space. It was generally a great read, and very engaging -- and we're talking about a reader who generally isn't interested in space. There were a few places where it got bogged down in the technical; and the pattern of alternating chapters of different time periods was distracting. I would have enjoyed it more were it linear.So that was the good part of the book, and why I recommend it. What I didn't like was the impression I was left with about Scott Kelly himself, and some personal choices he made in the book. I was pre-disposed to like him, but walked away not liking him (dislike might be strong). What bothered me were his comments about his first wife, and not wanting to marry her; as well as subsequent negative comments about her. True or not, it really wasn't necessary to share this -- it had no connection to the rest of the story, and wasn't necessary for explaining their eventual divorce. I could only think of his daughters -- who aren't that old (the oldest was a teenager during the narrative) -- reading this. It may be true, but not something you want to read in print about your parents along with a million other people. (And his attempts as times to make positive comments about her seem really forced -- you can't un-ring a bell.) So he chose to share all of that, but then the Lisa Nowak matter is weirdly handled -- or not handled. She was a classmate, coworker, and someone he knew for a long time. He makes a couple comments about her being obsessive, and getting her moved to another flight team. But the books skips over a big period of time and conveniently does not address her "trip to Florida." It also does not cover his public comments in the aftermath regarding alcohol use among astronauts. Even if for some reason he (or the editor, or legal) didn't want to go into the entire saga, it's weird to pretend like it didn't happen given everything else that was covered. At least an acknowledgement of some kind would have made sense. At any rate, while the editorial decision about the omission might have been someone else's, the editorial decision about including such negative comments about his first wife were his.

Great

Comme vous pouvez voir dans la photo la finition des page sur le cote' est vraiment très médiocre.Ça devait être un cadeau mais je ne peux pas donner ça en cadeau. On dirait un livre de 15eme main.Pour un livre a 30 euros ce n'est pas acceptable. Je vais le retourner directement.

Este libro se me hizo maravilloso su forma de contar su vida y su esfuerzo para conseguir lo que se propone. Les recomiendo mucho este libro.

Best book about being a spaceman I’ve read out of the spaceman and nasa contingent.Completely had me from page 1 and couldn’t put I downWould highly recommend

I followed Scott on social media while he spent his year in space and I was mesmerized with the pictures he posted and impressed by his achievements. I found out late about his book, but when I got to read it, It was such a delight and enlightening perspective into the details of his life, his year in space and space exploration. The book is excellent for anyone curious about life in space, however what impressed me the most was Scott’s personal story of how he became an astronaut: his determination and approach to reaching his professional objectives. The book is filled with lessons for anyone chasing a professional goal to apply to his or her own endeavors. Excellent read!