to be taught if fortunate becky chambers

I’m by no means a scientist, but the ideas that Chambers plays with, including synthetic biology/genetic engineering to enable space travel were interesting and it’s clear she takes her science very seriously (in the ebook edition I read there’s a question and answer between Chambers and her mother, who is an astrobiology educator and her main consultant).Īs the crew travels from exoplanet to exoplanet, they find the conditions of their mission evolving and discover that communications from Earth have been mysteriously and abruptly cut off. As Ariadne says, “we live and breathe why” (pg 3).

Ariadne and her three fellow crew members comprise the Lawki 6 mission, sent to four habitable exoplanets to… well, to science the heck out of things. TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE ( Amazon) is written from the perspective of Ariadne O’Neill, engineer and astronaut. It’s beautiful and bold and tenuous, just like most great endeavors. Instead of despairing, a group of scientists crowd-fund a world-wide space program, with small donations from hundreds of thousands of people reaching for the stars. Set about 100 years in our future, Earth is in the throes of global warming, with autocrats and general instability making funding science for the sake of science–not to build a weapon or garner profits for a corporation–a near impossibility. In the meantime, we can gladly recommend her standalone novella, TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE. If you’ve been keeping up with our reviews (and frankly, who hasn’t?) you’ll know that we enjoyed Becky Chambers RECORD OF A SPACEBORN FEW ( EBR Review) and we’re looking forward to happily reading along with where she takes the Wayfarers Series.

To be taught if fortunate becky chambers