READY FOR LAUNCH by Scott Kelly is subtitled "An Astronaut's Lessons for Success on Earth." Writing for "anyone who has a dream or a goal but isn't sure they have what it takes to achieve it," Kelly has chosen ten life lessons (e.g., Diversity is a Force Multiplier) and devotes a chapter to each. For example, he places special emphasis on the positive role of failure: "I believe that everyday human failures ...can be one of our greatest opportunities to learn, grow, and succeed. ...only when you are willing to risk failure are you aiming high enough." When I read Kelly's comments about "how adversity shapes us depends on how we choose to respond to it," I immediately thought of Randy Pausch ("We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand") and his book, The Last Lecture, which, ironically, has a rocket ship on the cover. At just over one-hundred and twenty pages, READY FOR LAUNCH is both entertaining and inspirational; hopefully, it will provide readers with the same sort of motivation that Wolfe's The Right Stuff gave Kelly. The first astronaut to spend an entire year in space, Kelly has written several other books for adults (Endurance) and children (My Journey to the Stars). He is a prolific writer – I vividly remember his essay "I Spent a Year in Space, and I Have Tips on Isolation to Share" published by The New York Times in March 2020 as the pandemic began. School Library Journal describes READY FOR LAUNCH as an "excellent addition to all library collections" and recommends it for grades 5 and up.

Randy Pausch lecture at Carnegie Mellon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/scott-kelly-coronavirus-isolation.html

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Ready for Launch is promoted as a juvenile literature book that gives Scott Kelly's 10 lessons for leadership and working with others, but really can be used to any age level. Adults can glean very valuable lessons from these bitesize, easily accessible anecdotal chapters.

While this is essentially a condensed version of Kelly's book, Endurance, I still really enjoyed it. I think our student patrons will really enjoy it even more because we have a large number of students who are interested in space and astrophysics. I just ordered several copies for the collection.

I received an ARC of this book for a fair review:

This book is essentially a "greatest hits" compilation from the author's book 'Endurance'. It focuses on a few great pieces of advice backed up by the author's real life experiences and stories. A great read for fans of astronauts, high school students getting ready to graduate, and more.

Scott Kelly has distilled his book "Endurance" into ten life lessons for middle/high school students. In each lesson, Kelly takes an important event in his life, explains what he learned and demonstrates how he applied it later in different situations. In a classroom setting, these lessons would make good read-alouds and discussions. A definite recommend.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

This was a great middle grade non-fiction read. Kelly is self aware enough that he points out his flaws as a person and how they both hurt him as an astronaut and helped him to learn about himself. The anecdotes are interesting and at times harrowing. I could see this being used in non-fiction book clubs at a middle school or in the upper elementary grades.

Scott Kelly is a phenomenal person, and I am always thrilled to read a "for younger readers" nonfiction book written by a hero. It's a great deep dive into his development as a kid to the commander of the International Space Station. He makes everything relatable to regular folks, and seeing that big dreams are achievable!