A really interesting memoir! I’m a fan of space stories and I feel like there was a lot of opportunity to get a feel for what being an astronaut was really like, which was cool! Great read.

This was extremely amazing. Would recommend to anyone who liked The Martian and people who liked the books by Chris Hadfield. I like in Saskatchewan and people are excited to read about someone from the same province. Inspirational and fulfilling

I used to dream about what it would be like to be in space. I am happy to say, that now, I leave this to the experts who actually do go to space so that I can live (safely) and vicariously through their adventures. What a remarkable achievement to do this. A good read indeed.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


This is a fantastically inspiring read, about dreams realized and fulfilled.
Dr. Dave Williams tells about the importance of living in the moment and savouring each and every one of them. That sometimes obstacles in life aren't necessarily deal breakers but opportunities to discover new dreams and to find a way to achieve them. To live a life of compassion and understanding.

I thoroughly enjoyed his memoir and encourage everyone to pick it up to experience a very uplifting story!

Hard work, dedication, and guts CAN result in achieving one's goals. An inspiring read, even at my age, and should be mandatory reading for early secondary school students. Forget Catcher In The Rye, archive Shakespeare, put these kind of technology based accounts in the forefront.

"Defying Limits" by Dr. Dave Williams is an inspiring story with so many good quotes. It's something you should live by, not just a book you should read. It follows the life of Dr. Dave as he goes from a small town Canadian boy, who dreams of flying into space, to an emergency room doctor, to a full blown astronaut throughout his life.

This book made me realize just how many big time Canadian astronauts there are. The prologue itself, is something you should live by. It recounts his time repairing the Canadarm2, thinking about how time is the most precious thing in the world. After all, you can live a lifetime in a day, and you don't want to let your life pass you by. It'll be over quicker than you think.

When he first saw a space launch, he was seven years old. It was the 1960's, a much different time than now, and when he asked his parents if he could do that one day, they told him it would be cool, but they didn't think Canada even had a space program. Time's have changed, and after several career changes, he landed his dream job after starting a family.

This book is amazing, not only because of his life story, but because it shows what's inside the life of an astronaut. Recounting all of his training, I found the book extremely interesting, and couldn't put it down once I started it. I didn't use to love non-fiction books, but because of ones like these I can really look forward to the next one I pick out. Anything about space I love, but I really feel proud hearing about astronauts from my own country going so far in life. After reading this, I immediately followed Dr. Dave on Twitter. Here's where you can get the book, and here's a link to his own personal Twitter account so you can keep up with him too. Definitely check out this book if you get the chance.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

A special thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of DEFYING LIMITS: LESSONS FROM THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE by Dr. Dave Williams.
I had the pleasure of listening on CBC to Dr. Dave Williams being interviewed about his book DEFYING LIMITS: LESSONS FROM THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE which will be released on Tuesday, October 30th. This interview was exceptionally interesting.
On May 5, 1961, eleven days before his seventh birthday, Dave Williams watched Alan Shepard walk on the moon on a grainy black-and-white television and decided he wanted to be an astronaut. At that time Canada did not have an astronaut program. His parents nurtured his curiosity and sense of discovery and encouraged him to go for his goals. And he did. Dave committed himself to work really hard to accomplish his dreams. He became a doctor and a neuroscientist.
In 1992 Dave Williams was chosen from over 5330 people to take the astronaut training. The other three chosen to be astronauts for the Canadian Space Agency and to help build the International Space Station were Chris Hadfield, Julie Payette and Rob Stewart. Rob withdrew his candidacy to return to his work at the University of Calgary, and Mike McKay became the fourth member of the second class of Canadian astronauts.
In 1994 Dave Williams became manager of the newly minted CSA operational space medicine program.
Dr. Dave Williams wanted to be successful and the best he could be. He wanted to be a successful astronaut, a successful husband and a successful father.
Shortly after finishing his ASCAN training Dave was selected as a mission specialist for STS-90 and would be flying on COLUMBIA with six other astronauts on a sixteen-day shuttle mission.
He had a massive controlled explosion happen under him during lift-off when he was in the rocket shooting into space.
Many animals were on board the flight with them. There were rats, mice, crickets, oyster toadfish and swordtail fish, which were key to the Neurolab experiments. The rats made the complete trip and quickly adapted and had fun playing in the weightless rocket ship. The Columbia travelled continuously at twenty-five times the speed of sound for sixteen days.
Dr. Williams second mission was almost 10 years later.
While doing his third space walk - floating alone, anchored only by a tether to robotic Canadarm2, Canadian astronaut Dave Williams looked at the dot which was earth, a beautiful blue oasis in the black expanse of outer space and realized that he was just a speck in a huge galaxy. That is when he decided that instead of leaving a legacy, he would LIVE a legacy.
In February 2008 Dr. Dave Williams announced his retirement from the space program. At the age of fifty-three, he had made three Space walks. He wanted to spend more time at home with his wife, Cathy (she is an airline pilot), and their two children, Evan and Olivia, and nephew, Theo.
Some quotes by Dr. Dave Williams:-
"The greatest accomplishments often have the most humble origins."
"For me, every day that I'm healthy and alive and able to contribute is a great day."
"It's up to us to make the most of every moment."

Every day is a great day to be alive!
DEFYING LIMITS: LESSONS FROM THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE is an inspirational, uplifting, and life-affirming memoir about passion, resilience and living life to the fullest, from Dr. Dave Williams, one of Canada's most accomplished astronauts. I highly recommend this book! 5⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️

This is a must read title for anyone who is interested in space or astronauts. In this book Dave takes us through his life from childhood to adulthood and what it took to become one of Canada's finest astronaut . He describes in vivid detail what training is like and what his journeys to space and the bottom of the ocean were like. He gives us all a glimps into what it feels like to be part of this planet we call earth. #netgalley#defyinglimits#indigoemployee

This is the sort of book you do not want to put down and you find yourself just in awe of what Williams has done. I have always been fascinated by space and space exploration and this book gave me a glimpse into that life. The book was well written in an easy to understand manner but still discussed some complex situations.

Doctor, dad, astronaut, proud Canadian ... Dave Williams can now add author to his list of titles with this heartwarming and inspiring book that chronicles his amazing life. As a Canadian and child of the 1950s, this book was, for me, a walk through my life. Like most kids my age, I have vivid memories of watching the early space launches and wondering what it would be like to be an astronaut. Williams marks watching Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 flight at home with his parents as a pivotal moment in his life, but most of us have variations on that memory, whether it was watching on an old, grainy black and white TV at home or being herded into the gymnasium at school to watch those launches in breathless anticipation with our friends and classmates.
From that pivotal moment in 1961 through playing in the creek out back, successes and failures at school, doctoring in Toronto, winning one of those few, coveted positions in the Canadian astronaut competition through training and his various missions, both above the earth and below the sea, Williams takes us through his life with a candor and a warmth that makes us feel like we're along for the ride. He explains what happened and what he did in plain,, simple terms, avoiding the tendency so many specialists have to descend into techno-speak that leaves all but the most knowledgeable struggling to keep up.
Defying Limits is an amazing book. If you're looking for a gift for Canadian or a space geek or a child of the 1950s, this is a book I can almost guarantee they will love ... and while you're picking up that book copy, buy an extra one for yourself because Dave Williams story is one everybody should know.

Defying Limits is a new memoir written by Canadian astronaut Dave Williams. Filled with stories about, not just his career in space, but his whole life, Williams uses the events and his positive outlook to inspire readers. Dave Williams has lead a fascinating life. He started his career as an emergency physician, but always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He worked on a number of projects with NASA, including working in the world’s only undersea research laboratory and completing three space walks. Although the memoir is fairly short, Williams packs a ton of detail into his stories. It is easy to visual the places he is describing and what he is feeling. He has an amazing sense of wonder that is contagious, especially when he is describing his emotions while in space. You can’t help but get caught up in his passion for space travel, but also life itself. Despite having some set backs he has remained remarkably upbeat and positive and it has served him incredibly well. He talks about how he tries to live each day to its fullest and to appreciate the small moments in life. It is a unique book in that it is not a typical memoir. Williams teaches us lessons about life that he has learned through his vast and incredible experiences. If you are looking for a detailed account of his life, that is not what you will find in this book, but if you are looking for an inspirational and life-affirming read written by one of Canada’s heroes, this the perfect book for you.

Dave Williams has written an amazing and wonderful memoir! This is the sort of book you do not want to put down and you find yourself just in awe of what Williams has done. I have always been fascinated by space and space exploration and this book gave me a glimpse into that life. The book was well written in an easy to understand manner but still discussed some complex situations. I loved learning about the life and experiences of an astronaut. I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. This book is a daintiest 5 stars out of 5!

This a a memoir by one of Canada's astronauts. It is wonderfully easy to read and fascinating. Dr. Williams has a wonderful approach to life and one that we should all try to emulate. His tales of his youth and then his days as an astronaut were entertaining and informative. This is a book that could appeal to most everyone and I will be recommending it to friends and customers alike.

I really wanted to love this book. I’ve read many books by many authors on the American space program from the early days of the Mercury 7 to the latest tales on the ISS. When I saw that Dr. Dave Williams had written about his experience as a Canadian astronaut, I pounced at the opportunity to get a pre-release copy from NetGalley.com.

The book follows a somewhat formulaic pattern – we learn of Dr. Williams’ early childhood days where he played with toys that would today be banned as overly dangerous but in fact helped form his character. We follow his challenges as he muddled his way through university then we start to soar with him as his career takes him in all sorts of new directions. I enjoyed learning of the selection process to become a Canadian astronaut as well the tales of being an aquanaut later in his career.

As I said though, I really wanted to love this book. If it’s about the space program, I try to read it. In this case though, I found the book to be oddly sterile. I know that NASA tries to encourage their astronauts to project a squeaky clean image, but the banter in this book was sanitized to the point that verges on unbelievable.; does anyone really talk like that in life?

The book also lacked the technical jargon of space-talk. Anyone who has followed the American space program knows that the space shuttle has 3 main engines but relied in large part on the two SRBs to reach orbit. In this book though, we never read about SRBs; just solid rocket boosters. At every reference, we only ever read about solid rocket boosters spelled out in full. To me, this just became a jarring reminder that though this is largely a space-tale, it’s a sanitized almost Disney-esque, simplified tale where, in my opinion, it didn’t need to be.

As a Canadian, I am pleased that someone such as Dr. Dave Williams served as one of our “ambassadors” to space. He is unquestionably a very accomplished person with his heart in the right place; we would all do well to emulate some of this ourselves. But after reading this book I can’t say that I learned anything new about space or the space program. I wish there was a little more insight into the rigours of training but instead we only see a glimpse of what’s needed to be successful in space. I also wish there could have been more on how an enormous team pulls together to keep a handful of men & women in orbit. And I wish there would have been more technical detail on the space program itself.

All in all, Defying Limits is a pleasant diversion but not a true in-depth view of the space program or what it’s like to be “up there”.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest review. I’m obsessed with anything space related so I was very excited to read this story. I love that no matter how many of these types books every story is unique. Truly enjoyed this.

Defying Limits is an inspirational, uplifting, and life-affirming memoir. Dave dream of being an astronaut as a child, years before Canada began a space program. This memoir displays his lifelong passion, resilience and living life to the fullest. Dave becomes a doctor, a husband, a father, and of course a successful astronaut.
A fantastic read, and highly recommended for all!

*I received an advances readers copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Dr. Dave Williams is one of Canada's unsung heroes. He spent most of his career as a Canadain astronaut. He flew in the ISS twice and worked on lots of exciting projects at NASA, especially in the field of life sciences and the affects of micro-gravity on the human body. In his book, Defying Limits Williams describes in detail how he got to live the dream and philosophizes about what is really important in life.

This reviewer is fairly knowledgeable about the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Canada's astronaut program and our cooperative projects with NASA but found William's narrative clearly written so that the uninitiated would have no trouble understanding Canada's role in the space program, and specifically the important part Williams played within it. His description of breaking free from Earth's gravity is amazing, you can feel the G forces pressing down on your chest as you turn the pages. Williams truly embraces the wonder and awe that must be felt by all astronauts, especially as they view planet Earth while tethered to the ISS while on a space walk.

Whether you are already completely knowledgeable about CSA's work with NASA or are just starting to take an interest in it you will find this book completely accessible. I recommend it for a wide range of reading level, from novice to expert.

I received a free copy of this ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and #Netgalley for the privilege of reading this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

In Canada we are proud of our astronauts. As a Girl Guide leader I am familiar with the history of Roberta Bondar who took Girl Guide cookies with her into space. As a resident of Sarnia-Lambton I am very familiar with the adventures of Chris Hadfield (though I have yet to read his books). I also have a slight connection to Dave Williams. For a short period of time when he was in university, my husband's sister dated him. I remember meeting him briefly once. All of this made his book to be of great interest to me.

How does one become an astronaut - especially as a Canadian? From reading Dave William's book it would appear it has to start at an early age, and Dave was fortunate to have parents who allowed him to be curious and explore his passions be they science experiments or learning how to dive at an age much earlier than most.

This book takes us from his childhood through to present day including his college years and study to become a physician, his training as an astronaut and as an aquanaut as well as his two trips to space and times he spent living underwater at the ocean floor. The detail is fascinating, sometimes humerous and certainly inspirational.

The title of the book speaks to defying limits. All of us come up against limits at different times in our lives - places where we lack control over what happens and simply have to choose how we are going to react. In this book the author uses his life experiences with NASA and with life in general to inspire his readers as we too face life challenges. To quote the author from his acknowledgements, " Life presents us with innumerable moments, some we want to remember forever, others we prefer to forget. It is what we choose to do with those moments that determines our happiness, brings contentment, and provides us with meaning in our lives."

Dave Williams has done things that I will never be able to do. I enjoyed reading his story and living vicariously in the experiences he had underwater and in space. However, I appreciated even more his love of his family and the down to earth philosophy he has - to enjoy each moment in life for the inherent beauty that it possesses. I encourage you to read this book. You won't regret it.

Dr. Dave Williams memoir describes his ideas of living the life to the fullest at every minute of life and what led him to became an accomplished medical professional and one of the first Canadian astronauts.

The life of the boy born in Canadian prairies is truly remarkable and inspirational for younger generations. Dr. Williams shares with his readers how his dream from the young age (he wanted to be an astronaut from the age of 7), became a reality through a medical education, sports ( his love of diving and aviation).
He writes warmly about people around him who helped him through his life journey ( his parents, his wife who is an accomplished airline pilot, his friends) .

This is an honest book about the life journey with all the struggles of real life and very many obstacles ( difficult relations with parents, child with medical problems, battle with cancer for Dr. Williams himself).

The book is relatively easy to read despite the heavy use of the scientific terms in the second half of the book and might be well recommended for school libraries and inspirational reading for the teenagers.

I strongly believe that the book would have benefited from more illustrative materials, as the photographs are very few and far between. The actual illustrations for the space stations and space vehicles that are readily available on the internet might help to make this book more popular among the young generations who we are trying to motivate and inspire.
I would like to thank the publishes of the book ( Simon & Schuster) for the free advance reading copy of the book.

Dr. Dafydd (David) Willams has written an inspirational book where he encourages everyone to set life goals and to live each minute of their everyday life at its fullest. He is a man to be much admired and his optimistic spirit emulated. Dr. Williams has led a remarkable life; a man of many talents, resources and honours. I will not list all his remarkable achievements, but would urge people to check out his biography on Wikipedia for a full description of his life’s work.

David decided at age 7 to become an astronaut at a time when there were no Canadians exploring space. His childhood interests helped to build towards this goal and prepared him for other careers as well. His parents encouraged him to explore forests and streams near home, diving lessons at a young age, kits which encouraged scientific, mechanical, chemical discovery, learning and construction, instructions in dissection botanical specimens, and assembling model planes. He attributed any success to having a curious mind and regarded failure as a learning process causing him to go back and figure an alternate means to succeed.

In later years he did experience some drawbacks. He was a mediocre undergraduate student, lost friends in the Challenger explosion, and had an interruption in his career due to cancer. He achieved great success as an emergency room doctor, a teaching medical lecturer, worked in scientific research in neurophysiology,Director of Heart and Stroke Advanced Cardiac Life Support. Completed training as an astronaut in 1993. He spent a total of 381 hours in space including two space walks. He was the first non -American to hold a senior management position with NASA. His early interest in diving lead to twice working as an Aquanaut in an underwater laboratory where scientific experiments were conducted. He also qualified as a pilot during his early years.
His determination and many interests all cumulated in his selection as an astronaut working at the space station. He also seems to have maintained a happy and supportive family life. His wife of many years was one of the first female pilots for Air Canada.

Although the focus of the book is on science it is an easy read and much can be easily envisioned by the reader. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this book and a chance to learn about this extraordinary man.