To Be Taught, If Fortunate

by Becky Chambers

153 pages

Published Aug. 8, 2019 by Harper Voyager.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-293601-1
OCLC Number:: 1100054207

(131 reviews)

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. With the fragile body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.

5 editions

Jennifer reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I want so much more!

periwinkleReads reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A strong novella

settingshadow reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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.

Smoak reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

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

Jonathan Zacsh reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

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.

Enno reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Short but sweet prequel novella set in the same universe as the Wayfarer series.

loppear reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on Goodreads

4 stars

Beautiful exploratory romp, a science mission to explore extrasolar planets faces wonder and complications, a joyful pace.

Martijn Reintjes reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Lovely book telling the story of 4 scientists who are missioned to catalogue life on different planets.

"At some point, you have to accept the fact that any movement creates waves, and the only other option is to lie still and learn nothing."

Antolius reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Contrasts interestingly with:
[b:Aurora|23197269|Aurora|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436300570l/23197269.SX50.jpg|42742263] by [a:Kim Stanley Robinson|1858|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1376955089p2/1858.jpg]

Good:
thoughtful characters with warm, caring relationships ([a:Becky Chambers|8389735|Becky Chambers|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562580587p2/8389735.jpg] writes those really well!)
creative exoplanets
creative astronaut adaptations
concise format

Bad:
I'm bored with "utopian space explorers juxtaposed with dystopian ecologically destroyed Earth" trope
* "scientific finding" at the end should have been foreshadowed

otrops reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Yet another amazing work by Becky Chambers. In this she manages to get under the skin of the fascination and fear of traveling beyond the bounds of our world. And somewhere between the exhilaration of discovery and the depths of boredom, she manages to do what she does best: explore what it means to be human.