Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4,000 hours in space. During this time, he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft.

The secret to Col. Hadfield's success—and survival—is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst and enjoy every moment of it.

In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible.

Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement—and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff.

You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video, or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth—especially your own.

Bill Courtney is a familiar name to those who saw him in Undefeated, the Oscar-winning movie about the high school football team he coached in a downtrodden section of North Memphis. Now, in his first book, Against the Grain, Courtney describes the key principles— including service, civility, leadership, character, commitment, and forgiveness—that have helped young people and adults to live better and more fulfilled lives.

Courtney has also passed along these values to his 120 employees at the lumber company he built from scratch. A former drug addict became a line manager and loving family man; an out-of-control cornerback is now a cadet at West Point; a star running back has discovered he can show his emotions and still be strong. Courtney, Esquire magazine’s Coach of the Year in 2012, shares these and other compelling stories to illustrate how readers can enrich themselves their families, their businesses, and their communities.

Courtney goes against the grain of today’s me-first culture, while explaining why these time-tested principles are needed now more than ever. He shows that winning isn’t just about the score at the end of the game, or the profit margin. Ultimately, it’s about the impact you make on your fellow human beings and the legacy you leave behind.