The practice of empathy is the practice of shifting your attention to someone else. This non-centeric exercise has many rewarding benefits including gaining insights, therapeutic relief from your life, improvements to your listening skills and enhancing your curiosity. The list can go on. One of the best methods of practicing empathy is reading a book. Fiction or non-fiction, the level of detail in the characters’ thoughts, emotions and surroundings offer you an opportunity to explore your own ability to empathize with others and is the best way of experiencing life through their point of view.
Some mid-life crisis can be a result of a lack of empathy. Most of us graduate from undergrad to enter a race towards achievements and then get lost in living someone else’s life plan. I suggest reading a biography as a way to live in someone else’s life. I did not know much about Chris’s life before I read this book, but I figured that the life of an astronaut could definitely offer some insights if not an interesting read. This book taught me the simple logic of being human and to put the aspects into my career, my social responsibility and my environmental footprint. If you had questioned yourself by asking “what am I going to do with my life” in the last 3 days, I suggest heading out on this 284-page journey.