Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe by Aomawa Shields (2023) is an inspiring memoir — Shields is an astronomer, astrobiologist, actress, mother, and wife. She’s also an African-American woman with a PhD in a STEM field who was privileged to go to boarding school and M.I.T, but has struggled to find her place and her calling because of her widely disparate passions of science and the arts. She embraces the “both . . and” thinking that many of us need to embrace when we are passionate about and interested in many things.
A true autobiography and memoir, spanning from her childhood to the present, Shields takes us through every step and misstep along her journey, including her failed start on a PhD program immediately after undergrad.
She embraces her other interest, moving to Los Angeles and enrolling in an acting masters program, where she meets her husband, obtains a few jobs acting, but never loses her interest in Astronomy. After working at CalTech in an administrative role, she decides to try again, in her 30s, going back for that PhD in astronomy.
Probably the only person alive with both a PhD in astronomy, and a Masters in Acting, Shields is also an engaging writer who has studied with Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones, Wild Mind). I couldn’t wait to hear what happened next and had to find out what she’s currently doing.
Shields studies exoplanets–those planets outside of our solar system that orbit other stars–and the conditions that might make them habitable for life. It’s fascinating, and her tenacity and never-ending curiosity is admirable.
There is some anti-fat bias, such that is inherent in any story that has parts set in Hollywood/ Los Angeles and that deals with the entertainment business. Also, Shields describes the necessity of a walking habit at one point in her life in order to stall weight gain. So it isn’t perfect, but there is a lot to love in this memoir. As a science and the arts person myself (Chemistry undergrad, lawyer, writer wanna-be, native plant gardener, gym rat, crochet artist), I could so relate to her thoughts about how to integrate all of her passions into a singular life.
Reading While Fat 