Jaelyn reviewed To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through …
Review of 'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
I finally got around to reading some more Becky Chambers here and she really does not disappoint in this novella.
Earth has sent out astronauts to explore distant worlds. Instead of changing the planets to suit them, they terraform themselves and take all precautions not to contaminate or interfere with the places they visit: “I’m an observer, not a conqueror. I have no interest in changing other worlds to suit me. I choose the lighter touch: changing myself to suit them.”
So each visit their bodies have changed to survive in the environment, constantly in flux throughout the book, but still wear suits to ensure they don’t contaminate these worlds. Meanwhile, on Earth, time is progressing far faster than it does for the astronauts.
As Earth spins ahead and the news gets grim, they stop paying attention to the news reports. They can’t change anything, it’s not relevant to their mission to study and explore the cosmos. Until one day they realise the news reports from Earth stopped coming months ago.
As with Chambers’ other books, this is a viscerally human sci-fi where we explore the nature and diversity of our species and its relationship to the cosmos, and how we relate to each other as a community. It finds the light in the dark and celebrates it.
“This is what a forest is, after all. Don’t believe the lie of individual trees, each a monument to its own self-made success. A forest is an interdependent community. Resources are shared, and life in isolation is a death sentence.”
Earth has sent out astronauts to explore distant worlds. Instead of changing the planets to suit them, they terraform themselves and take all precautions not to contaminate or interfere with the places they visit: “I’m an observer, not a conqueror. I have no interest in changing other worlds to suit me. I choose the lighter touch: changing myself to suit them.”
So each visit their bodies have changed to survive in the environment, constantly in flux throughout the book, but still wear suits to ensure they don’t contaminate these worlds. Meanwhile, on Earth, time is progressing far faster than it does for the astronauts.
As Earth spins ahead and the news gets grim, they stop paying attention to the news reports. They can’t change anything, it’s not relevant to their mission to study and explore the cosmos. Until one day they realise the news reports from Earth stopped coming months ago.
As with Chambers’ other books, this is a viscerally human sci-fi where we explore the nature and diversity of our species and its relationship to the cosmos, and how we relate to each other as a community. It finds the light in the dark and celebrates it.
“This is what a forest is, after all. Don’t believe the lie of individual trees, each a monument to its own self-made success. A forest is an interdependent community. Resources are shared, and life in isolation is a death sentence.”