The Smallest Lights in the Universe

Starred review from February 24, 2020
Planetary astrophysicist Seager looks back on her life through the lens of her passion for stargazing in this brilliant, emotionally wrought memoir. A socially awkward child, Seager shuttled between divorced parents in 1970s and ’80s Toronto. At age 10 on a camping trip, she discovered the stars—“I stood and stared... a little girl who understood how to navigate... a big city and a broken home, but who now had been given her first glimpse of real mystery.” A canoe trip in 1994 cemented her relationship with fellow outdoor enthusiast Mike, and during her graduate work at Harvard she researched exoplanets. She joined the faculty of MIT in 2006, and married Mike, with whom she had two sons. She received prestigious science awards and was named chair of a key NASA project; but in 2011 Mike was diagnosed with and soon after died from colon cancer. Seager’s fragile balance of career and single motherhood was strengthened by two chance meetings—with a young widow and a fellow stargazer named Charles Darrow. Her life was again reignited with friendship and love, and bolstered when she received the MacArthur Fellowship in 2013. Seager’s openhearted prose is clean and exact, and her observations—“We want to be a light in somebody else’s sky”—illuminate the human drive to connect with others. This wondrous tale of discovery, loss, and love is both expansive intimate.

Starred review from May 15, 2020
The memoir of an astrophysicist whose extraordinary accomplishments reflect her exceptional complexity. As a scientist, Seager has achieved considerable renown. She won the prestigious Sackler International Prize in Physics as well as a MacArthur fellowship, and she was named by Time as "one of the twenty-five most influential people in space." Her prominence and how she achieved it would merit a book about her, but her personal struggles fitting in and finding a balance between her work and life are what make this memoir so compelling, even for readers who know little about science. For someone who has devoted so much of her life to exploring the possibility of life on other planets, which she believes is almost a mathematical certainty, it was a more personal discovery--that she was autistic--that made her feel like "I'd been struck by something, a physical impact. So much of my life suddenly made sense." It wasn't until the public's response to an extensive personal profile in the New York Times Magazine that Seager realized that her "feelings of otherness" and her inabilities to connect with others and to feel like she belonged were part of her diagnosis. This book obviously goes much deeper into how she found her vocation after something of a wayward, "vagabond adolescence" in Canada and how she and her husband started a family (two boys, three cats) that eventually felt like "our own solar system"--until his terminal cancer left the author feeling like one of the "rogue planets" to which she had devoted her scientific research. Seager also engagingly explores how a widows' group that she was reluctant to join showed her that she was not alone and how finding her second husband opened a whole new world within her. The interior journey she traces here is as extraordinary as her scientific career. A singular scientist has written a singular account of her life and work.

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Starred review from June 1, 2020

At the intersection of dreams and science stood a little girl from Ontario, Canada, who, during a camping trip, discovered the wonders of the night sky unobscured by the glare of city lights. Seager (astrophysics & planetary science, MIT) has intertwined her lifelong love of the stars with her personal story of love and loss and renewal. She describes how she channeled her interest in science and nature into a career as an astrophysicist, which in turn sparked her sense of adventure. While pursuing her education, she does research on exoplanets, or those planets outside the solar system. She also meets her future husband, with whom she marries and has two children, and who also shares her passion for the outdoors. After her husband dies unexpectedly from cancer, Seager has to pick up the pieces of her grief and lost love and try to rebuild her life. VERDICT This thoughtful and affecting memoir of navigating life after loss reads like a comforting novel, inspiring others to follow their dreams and never give up on the possibilities of discovery and self-reflection. Readers seeking women's biographies and studies in planetary science will relish this heartfelt story.--Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2020
This engaging memoir seamlessly weaves together three narratives. First there's the author's life story as a solitary child, an ultra-focused university student, a happily wedded wife and mother, a grief-stricken young widow, and an ultimate survivor. The second thread follows Seager's impressive career. A celebrated MIT astrophysicist who specializes in exoplanet exploration, Seager is also the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant. The third story in Seager's memoir is one of self-discovery: in her forties, Seager was diagnosed with autism. It doesn't matter whether the text is describing a particularly painful social interaction or explaining the mechanics behind a billion-dollar proposal; Seager's writing is unfailingly accessible and compelling. Sometimes the chapters alternate between biographical and scientific developments, other times events are intertwined, but again, readers will remain fully engaged throughout. They'll appreciate Seager's honesty and empathize with her as she describes the agony of watching her husband being consumed by cancer, vents frustration over professional setbacks and snubs, or shares her hard-won victories. This is technical writing at its best, shared by a thoroughly companionable and relatable scientist, writer, and woman. Readers will cheer for the happy ending.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)