Hardcover, 160 pages
English language
Published Aug. 8, 2019 by Hodder & Stoughton.
In the future, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the galaxy transform themselves.
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.
Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. …
In the future, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the galaxy transform themselves.
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.
Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the wonders and dangers of her journey, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.
A fun and easy read that can be finished in a single sitting. Chambers' writing and narrative style makes me want to read more of her books.
Mmmm, I love it when you talk nerdy to me. Blend it with meaningful human connection and I’m all yours. This is the most scientifically literate work I’ve read by Chambers, and it’s exquisite. Four beautiful, complex characters (one trans, one ace!) in a loving polycule, all of them committed to an achingly lonely mission of searching for extrasolar life... and no human yet has experienced this level of commitment, in which the Earth you return to—if you return—will be unrecognizable. The emotions of leaving your home and loved ones behind could merit a book in themselves, and are not the main focus here, but Chambers does a respectable job with them.
There are big plot holes: crowdfunding six deep-space missions, uh, not likely. Onboard fuel and energy. And, four planets, with only one landing site each? That goes into “inconceivable”[1] territory. But the story wouldn’t work otherwise, and …
Mmmm, I love it when you talk nerdy to me. Blend it with meaningful human connection and I’m all yours. This is the most scientifically literate work I’ve read by Chambers, and it’s exquisite. Four beautiful, complex characters (one trans, one ace!) in a loving polycule, all of them committed to an achingly lonely mission of searching for extrasolar life... and no human yet has experienced this level of commitment, in which the Earth you return to—if you return—will be unrecognizable. The emotions of leaving your home and loved ones behind could merit a book in themselves, and are not the main focus here, but Chambers does a respectable job with them.
There are big plot holes: crowdfunding six deep-space missions, uh, not likely. Onboard fuel and energy. And, four planets, with only one landing site each? That goes into “inconceivable”[1] territory. But the story wouldn’t work otherwise, and oh, how the story works. The bioadaptation gimmick is fascinating; the exotic life forms tantalizing, the moral dilemmas heartbreaking. And, finally, this is Chambers, so her characters are on the too-good-to-be-true side (virtuous, decent, flawed but self-aware and self-correcting) and I just love that. It gives me hope for what we can be.
[1] “You keep using that word.”
TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE presents a delightful and intimate portrait of long-term space travel with a small team of scientists who undertake this journey knowing that it means saying goodbye to everyone they knew and loved.
Ariadne has strong bonds with her other three crewmates, singly and collectively. Their personalities come through very well and her interactions with them are a delight. They're all affected differently by certain plot events, despite being generally in the same situation as each other, and by the time things get stressful I had a enough of a sense of them to resonate with their reactions. The science explanations are just a much a part of the narrative as Ariadne's conversations with her team. Everyone's enthusiasm for their work makes this a delight to read.
Very well done, and with some truly skin-crawling bits, as well as serious hope in places.
Ich bin wieder #AmLesen, diesmal: "To be taught if fortunate" von #BeckyChambers. Es ist das erste Buch außerhalb der #Wayfarers-Reihe, das ich von ihr lese und ach, ich bin wieder hin und weg.
Becky Chambers' Bücher sind einfach alle queere sci-fi Feelgod-Literatur.
Die Astronaut:innen sind von quasi einer international gecrowdsourcten NASA in den Weltraum gesandt worden, damit sie Informationen sammeln können um deren selbst willen und nicht für nationalistische oder kapitalistische Konkurrenzkämpfe. Allein dise Idee und wie Chambers sie ausführt hat mich heftig gerührt. :blobmeltsoblove:
Unter den Kosmonaut:innen gibt es einen #trans* Mann und eine #ace Person. Die Hälfte der Protagonist:innen sind Frauen, so auch die Ich-Erzählerin. #Poly und #Bisexualität sind bei Chambers auch wieder und ohne irgendein Trara ganz normal.
AmLesen Update:
Hmm, hmmmm!
Definitiv ein gutes Buch, habe es gerne gelesen.
Was meine Aussage zur Sci-Fi-Feelgood-Lektüre angeht, muss ich sie für dieses Werk einschränken. Das ist mE #BeckyChambers‘ …
Ich bin wieder #AmLesen, diesmal: "To be taught if fortunate" von #BeckyChambers. Es ist das erste Buch außerhalb der #Wayfarers-Reihe, das ich von ihr lese und ach, ich bin wieder hin und weg.
Becky Chambers' Bücher sind einfach alle queere sci-fi Feelgod-Literatur.
Die Astronaut:innen sind von quasi einer international gecrowdsourcten NASA in den Weltraum gesandt worden, damit sie Informationen sammeln können um deren selbst willen und nicht für nationalistische oder kapitalistische Konkurrenzkämpfe. Allein dise Idee und wie Chambers sie ausführt hat mich heftig gerührt. :blobmeltsoblove:
Unter den Kosmonaut:innen gibt es einen #trans* Mann und eine #ace Person. Die Hälfte der Protagonist:innen sind Frauen, so auch die Ich-Erzählerin. #Poly und #Bisexualität sind bei Chambers auch wieder und ohne irgendein Trara ganz normal.
AmLesen Update:
Hmm, hmmmm!
Definitiv ein gutes Buch, habe es gerne gelesen.
Was meine Aussage zur Sci-Fi-Feelgood-Lektüre angeht, muss ich sie für dieses Werk einschränken. Das ist mE #BeckyChambers‘ ernstestes Werk bisher und es fühlt sich in der zweiten Hälfte echt beklemmend an. Das passt zu einem „realistischer“ anmutenden Sci-Fi-Plot und es ist trotzdem schön gelöst und inspirierend... aber zu Covid-Zeiten hätte ich lieber ein bisschen mehr Fluff und Weltraumabenteuer gehabt.
Wer neu mit Chambers anfängt und lieber positive, queerpositive, working class Weltraum Abenteuer möchte, der:m würde ich definitiv empfehlen zuerst die Wayfarer-Bücher zu lesen. Also mit dem „The long way to a small, angry planet“ anzufangen.
Not a bad read. The writing was often too nebulous for me to have any concrete immersion, but I did enjoy the character moments. The notes and tone of isolation and coping with that is resonate during this pandemic we're going through.
There is barely a story here. The astronauts go into space and visit planet A. There they observe the planet. The narrator explains a few scientific concepts. Next they go to planet B. The same thing happens. Then they go to planet C. The same thing happens. Etc.
There is a sliver of a story between planets. It's mildly interesting, but it is really thin.
Becky Chambers does have a wonderful way with the English language, so everything flows smoothly enough, but that isn't enough to carry an entire novella.
The good news is that the gee whiz aren't we a great bunch of friends in space presentation of characters found in some of Chambers' other books isn't excessively prominent here. But... isn't that presentation why she's so popular?
Basically I didn't love this as much as wayfarer but it was a great speculative title and still had the warmth of Becky's other titles. I hope there are some other books released in this timeline to explore the impacts of human manipulation.
Diese Novelle habe ich am Ende des letzten Jahres angefangen und Neujahr abgeschlossen. Ich mag Novellen genau so gerne wie richtig dicke Wälzer. Aber mit dieser hatte ich Probleme. Mir fehlte einfach der rote Faden - die Figuren waren interessant angelegt, blieben mir aber fremd, weil ich sie nur durch die Augen der Tagebuch schreibenden Technikerin zu sehen bekam.
Nicht wirklich zufrieden war ich auch mit der Menge an Sachinformationen, die im Zusammenhang mit der Erforschung und potentieller Besiedelung neuer Planeten stehen. Ich liebe gut recherchierte Bücher, aber das war mir hier ein wenig zu viel und ich habe an einigen Stellen nicht einmal verstanden, warum die Ich-Erzählerin etwas für aufschreibenswert hielt, abgesehen von der Tatsache, dass die Autorin es den Lesern nahebringen wollte.
Aber zum Positiven: Die Sprache war gewohnt schön, das Buch steckte voller Ideen, ist, wie oben schon erwähnt, gut recherchiert und an einigen Stellen musste ich …
Diese Novelle habe ich am Ende des letzten Jahres angefangen und Neujahr abgeschlossen. Ich mag Novellen genau so gerne wie richtig dicke Wälzer. Aber mit dieser hatte ich Probleme. Mir fehlte einfach der rote Faden - die Figuren waren interessant angelegt, blieben mir aber fremd, weil ich sie nur durch die Augen der Tagebuch schreibenden Technikerin zu sehen bekam.
Nicht wirklich zufrieden war ich auch mit der Menge an Sachinformationen, die im Zusammenhang mit der Erforschung und potentieller Besiedelung neuer Planeten stehen. Ich liebe gut recherchierte Bücher, aber das war mir hier ein wenig zu viel und ich habe an einigen Stellen nicht einmal verstanden, warum die Ich-Erzählerin etwas für aufschreibenswert hielt, abgesehen von der Tatsache, dass die Autorin es den Lesern nahebringen wollte.
Aber zum Positiven: Die Sprache war gewohnt schön, das Buch steckte voller Ideen, ist, wie oben schon erwähnt, gut recherchiert und an einigen Stellen musste ich lächeln, weil die Autorin Fehler, die mir in anderen SF-Geschichten aufgefallen sind, bewusst vermied und erklärte.
In Summe sicher nicht das beste, was ich von Becky Chambers gelesen habe, aber nichts, was mich von zukünftigen Büchern dieser Autorin abschrecken würde.
I really enjoyed every part of this book, cover to cover. It's impressive how the author was able to fit an excellent story, excellent setting, and excellent characters with excellent arcs in such a short book. While I wouldn't necessarily consider it "feel good" sci fi as I've seen some other reviewers call it, I thought the message was very poignant as a realistic near-future scenario.
The prose in this book is so beautiful. I love this slice of life, no plot really, people being really nice to each other, exploring space with peace and environment in mind. :))
If you like Nghi Vo's novellas, it's highly likely you'd like this too!
I want so much more!
Becky Chambers' mom is an astrobiologist (yes, I'm jealous, too) and they worked together to imagine how spacefaring might work in this world. I love super-realistic space stories and there are so few of them, without ansibles and hyperspace drives. To Be Taught leans in to the boundaries of the speed of light. There is no going home, there is no instantaneous communication with earth, light years away. There is the claustrophobic feeling of being with the only humans who come from the same era as you, of being years away from hearing a response to your question. How do people cope with that? How does a society build up an astronaut plan and a culture to accept that? These are the fascinating questions of space travel and Chambers doesn't flinch from them.
A set of related vignettes, any one of which might have been interesting if explored further rather than dropped and completely forgotten by the next page
One of the best books I've read in a long time. I'll have to re-read this again soon. Not the ending I expected, and I loved it.
There were some interpretations of science that I thought were technically incorrect at the end, but perhaps it was written that way for dramatic effect. I'd quote here and explain, but it's my favorite part of the book, so I don't want to spoil it for anyone.
Purchasable
https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/to-be-taught-if-fortunate.aspx.