Canadian Spacewalkers

January 19, 2015
Science journalist McDonald, host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks, has assembled a beautiful selection of breathtaking photographs and personal interviews with three Canadian astronauts who have taken on the challenge of spacewalking. Hadfield was the first Canadian to spacewalk and to become commander of the International Space Station. MacLean, the second Canadian spacewalker, went to space twice and acted as Capsule Communicator for both the International Space Station program and the Shuttle program. Williams holds the Canadian record for the longest amount of time spent spacewalking â more than 17 hours. The book describes the spacewalk â from the rigorous training to the moment the astronaut leaves the hatch to the work performed in the extreme heat or cold of space â and vividly recounts the experience of these spacewalkers on their incredible journey. McDonald builds a compelling story from interviews presented in a question-and-answer form that allows Hadfield, MacLean and Williams to provide first-person accounts of the risks and problems encountered while working in a spacesuit, circling the world every hour and a half. Truly fascinating adventures successfully recounted. Agent: John Pearce, Westwood Creative Artists.

March 1, 2015

Spacewalking pushes astronauts to their physical and mental limits. Even a well-fitting, perfectly operating spacesuit subjects wearers to uncomfortable temperature extremes and to physical stresses that can severely injure their joints. The payoffs are the opportunities to witness amazing sights and to accomplish feats inaccessible to the earthbound. Through interviews conducted by science journalist McDonald of CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Canada's three spacewalking astronauts describe experiences ranging from the inconvenient (scratching itches and breaking wind inside spacesuits) to the profound (particularly, the psychological impact of seeing one's home planet from space). The author briefly relates his experiences with astronaut training equipment, but unfortunately includes gratuitous jabs at his American NASA hosts (ironically, within a chapter on space mission teamwork) and some dull digressions on his personal philosophy and childhood. There are also a few errors and omissions in the index. VERDICT Despite its minor flaws, this combination of astronauts' fascinating and sometimes emotional recollections plus dramatic space photographs makes a refreshingly secular alternative to Jerry L. Ross's Spacewalker. For all popular science readers, regardless of national origin or citizenship.--Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono

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