No, You Can't Be an Astronaut Book Review
No, You Can't Be an Astronaut: Why you shouldn't follow your dreams--and what to do instead
by Patience Fairweather, PhD
Plausible Press (January 18, 2018)
$9.99 paperback; $3.49 kindle edition; 186 pages
ISBN 978-1548082963
ASIN B077Q7GF3T
I received this book for free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program.
Patience Fairweather [a pseudonym] is preaching to the choir. I have also been saying that the STEM crisis is a myth, and that we have plenty of well-educated Americans to do all the jobs we have. I appreciate it when anyone else says it, and backs it up with data.
What is more interesting, is what we should do about. Fairweather has written a book that provides sound, reasonable advice to individuals, especially the very young, or those contemplating a career change. This is not a book of policy, but rather a checklist combined with useful background information, to provide opportunity to ordinary Americans.
After the introduction, Fairweather has a section on personality assessments. This section is pretty good, especially insofar as it encourages the reader to seek out objective information about what they like, and what they are good at. A variety of different tests are cited, including the popular-but-flawed Myers-Briggs, and the better replicated OCEAN model. The point of all is to find out what you would be willing to tolerate for money, because following your dreams can end very poorly. It is often better to find out what you can stand that someone will pay you to do.
Which is the next section of the book! Fairweather looks at ways to assess your actual likelihood of graduating college, and then assessing whether this would truly be a net financial benefit to you. Sure, on average, college graduates make more money, but will you? Sometimes, the answer is no, and Fairweather provides some tools, for example the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States, that can answer that question pretty accurately.
Following chapters contain commonsense advice about using time wisely in college, avoiding social media mistakes that can cost you your job, job-hunting and interview skills, and how to succeed in the workplace. I've done technical recruiting for twelve years, and this is good stuff. If you don't need this book to point this stuff out, great for you, but honest mistakes can cost people chances they would otherwise have. Don't let that be you.
Highly recommended.
No You Can't Be an Astronaut: Why you shouldn't follow your dreams--and what to do instead By Patience Fairweather PHD
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