Michelle recommends:
Enders Game - My favorite book of all time is Ender’s Game. I read it in middle school (for the first time) and it really challenged my mind about the possibilities that exist out there. I had never read any science fiction before and my best friend’s Dad gave this to me because he knew I absolutely loved space. As my first exposure to science fiction, I loved the idea of amazing scientific breakthroughs that could potentially happen in the future.
The Right Stuff (which I also read for the first time in middle school) - Being a space buff from the time I was about 3, this book has always captured me. The story of the Original Mercury 7 Astronauts as well as Chuck Yeager breaking the Sound Barrier is so intrinsically linked to the base of human spaceflight that it has always been a cornerstone for how I look at the original days of manned spaceflight since I wasn’t alive to actually experience it.
The Martian - I love that this book humanizes spaceflight and makes every person who reads it feel for this astronaut who is stuck on Mars. It’s a great thought-provoking book that space geeks and the non-space person can enjoy. Andy Weir did a great job of getting a lot of the details correct about Mars and space travel so that even the technically minded love it!