The Space Hero's Guide to Glory

by Phil Hornshaw, Nick Hurwitch

A hilarious, tongue-in-cheek guide on how to become the ultimate space hero

Before you head to the final frontier, you need to know the dos and don’ts of surviving space. This fun, irreverent field guide reveals the secrets to becoming a real space hero. Combining science about intergalactic travel with pop culture references, this indispensable book mixes practical tips (like combating helmet hair) with lifesaving advice (such as mastering alien diplomacy) and helpful illustrations for identifying everything from cyborgs to which warp speed to use. It’s all delivered with a heaping portion of sardonic machismo and laugh-out-loud humor

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

Chrono-displacement Molecular Reassembly Psychosis Specialist and Test Subject Hostage Negotiator Phil Hornshaw moonlights as a technology blogger when he hangs up his time travel goggles. A sometimes fanatical consumer of television and film as well as part-time payer of attention to Science, he has known a fascination with time travel and its horrific effects on the human all his life. He currently lives in Los Angeles and spends much of his time working on various science-fictiony experiments in plot delivery systems with writing partner-best friend Nick Hurwitch.

Hornshaw works as a smartphone app-centric tech blogger for Appolicious.com and writes about video games for GameFront.com. He also has a (somewhat unhealthy) fixation with zombies, aliens and other horror-type...horrors, and has been known to write short stories, screenplays and the 140-character musings.

Reviews

[Phil Hornshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I co-wrote it, so you can go ahead and ignore that rating. But I liked writing it, so that counts for something, I hope.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a massive geek. I considered Star Wars the best work of art ever created for a very long time. So of course, when I saw this book at Barnes and Noble, I grabbed it. I was not disappointed.

Overall, The Space Hero's Guide to Glory is a fun book. It has several lines that still make me burst out laughing months later, and it constantly pokes fun at the sheer ridiculousness that we accept as science fiction. It is clearly written from a perspective of love for the genre, the basis of all good parody. From the low survivability rate of Captain Kirk's crew to the idiocy of having something that can 'explode into deadly shards of glass and fish poop' in your captain's quarters, nothing is off limits for this romp through the universe.

In addition, and much to my surprise, it contains real science, including a fun explanation of Newton's laws (and why they make zero-gee fighting inconvenient), a exploration into how lightsaber-type weaponry works and even the potential use of human waste as a radiation shield. As a science fan, I all the the science accurate (besides the obvious tounge-in-cheek stuff, of course). it isn't exactly a college textbook, but you'll learn some things for sure.

The Space Hero's Guide to Glory is a book I love to return to whenever I need a geeky laugh. It's a very enjoyable and funny book, and I would recommend it to any nerd in the mood to smile.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from a giveaway on Goodreads. The opinions shared are mine and mine alone.)

I've spent my life surrounded by engineers and future engineers. With those types, there usually comes a love of all things space, especially in regards to science fiction. As a result, I've gotten to see and enjoy many sci-fi series and movies that I might not otherwise have selected. That background came in very handy as I read The Space Hero’s Guide to Glory. As I laughed my way through the pages, I often thought of many friends and family members whom I knew would love this book.

There are many ways one could describe the humor in this work: tongue-in-cheek, satirical, intellectual, and definitely warped. It’s not just the occasional great one-liner. The book is packed from start to finish with all kinds of amusement. One of my favorite lines in the book is about how “[b]ad hair, by contrast, has been the cause of every worst-Space scenario from mutiny to painful midtryst injury” (77). This line comes amid advice about space hero fashion and facial hair styles, truly important components to becoming a space hero.

The book also did a great job of explaining what my ex referred to as “technobabble.” Working from theories such as Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion and Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics, the authors endeavor to explain phenomenon such as photon torpedoes and warp drives. They actually did help me understand a few things I’d never tried to grasp before. They also helped me to contemplate ideas like using human feces as a shield against space radiation, something that never would have crossed my mind without the assistance of this book. While chapters 11 and 12 got a bit too science heavy for me, even the authors admit, “In all honesty, somewhere within this chapter is when most Space Hero recruits drop out and go live with their parents or start applying to grad schools” (147).

The book is designed to look like a scuffed up pocket book. It’s the perfect size for a stocking stuffer for your favorite space nerd. Some might find the profanity and sexual innuendos in the book inappropriate to share with teens, but I had no problem giving it to my teenage son who was impatiently waiting for me to finish reading it so he could have his turn. Readers will enjoy the book far more if they have a general familiarity of the space genre including canonical works such as Star Wars, Star Trek in its many incarnations, Firefly, Battlestar Gallactica, and more.

[Exapno Mapcase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Goodreads First Reads review.

Have you ever wanted to become a space hero? Well this handy little guide will give you all the science behind becoming the next Han Solo or Jean-Luc Picard. This provides all of the details from training and ships to dealing with other life forms, to escaping hairy situations with your body intact. A must read for those that want to see the stars.

[G. Edweird Cheese · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure this was a Goodreads First Read... I'm so far behind on my stack, im just not sure.
This book, though cute and full of sci-fi culture references, just wasn't that funny. A lot of missed potential here. A bathroom read, if you happen to be given this book as a gift, because I wouldn't recommend spending money on it for yourself.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who aspire to space glory, this book is a necessity. The do's & don'ts of space herodom are laid out easily enough for even the scruffiest of nerf herders to comprehend. Every topic, from laser pollution to helmet hair, is covered in intimate detail and you'll be sure to rank yourself amongst the greatest of space heroes in history upon implementation of this book's teachings.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I might be wrong but generally speaking a humor book should be funny.