Stardust: memoir and essays by an astronomer who became a psychiatrist

An astronomer turned psychiatrist, Jaime Smith traces his education back to his early studies in the humanities and a life-changing move to Argentina as a young researcher photographing faint blue stars. Returning with his family to the US for graduate studies and then on to British Columbia to teach university courses, Smith ultimately segued into medicine, beginning a decades long career as a psychiatrist at the forefront of the AIDS epidemic in Vancouver, BC.




Drawing from a background in diverse fields of study, Smith's memoir, Foxtrot, gets new life alongside a collection of essays that explore topics ranging from quantum mechanics and philosophy to literature, linguistics and systems of belief. For Smith, it is the production, acquisition and playful interaction with knowledge that makes us human. Stardust reflects his never-ending engagement with that pursuit.