Octogenarian aerospace engineer Peter Hughes identified 6 critical points in his life at which an important decision was required, and where the rest of his life could have been quite different, depending on that decision. In every case, he was completely free to make the decision.

In Six Degrees of Freedom, Hughes reflects on a full lifetime, including several work environments, his contributions to the aerospace industry (including work on the Canadarm), a passion for applied mathematics, family life, business and entrepreneurship, travel experience, and medical science. In so doing, and through his wry humor, he provides the reader thoughtful insight and useful life and career lessons.

Peter Carlisle Hughes has been a professional engineer (PEng) in the Province of Ontario since 1964. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics & Space Institute (CASI) [Chairman, Toronto Branch, 1977–1978], a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA), 2008 [all American nominators], and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In addition, he has received the Casey Baldwin Award, from CASI for the best paper published in the CASI Journal during 1983; the Cockburn Professorship from the UofT Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, 1986–1991; the Alouette Award (CASI) “. . . for outstanding contributions to advancement in Canadian space technology, application, science and engineering,” 2006; and the John Chapman Award from the Canadian Space Agency, 2007 “. . . for tremendous impact on Canadian space technology.”