Tiny Earth

This may be pushing it a bit for Tiny Tuesday: Earth, but Earth certainly looks tiny from space. 

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This is one of the Booker Shortlisted books - some readers say it is boring, it has no plot and nothing happens. Others, me included, absolutely love it. 

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of beauty witnessed in a single day.

From this perspective they reflect on the beauty and fragility of our planet and wonder at what humankind is doing to it. They reflect  on their own lives and the lives of people way below them. Nothing happens and everything happens. I have read it twice now and love it. A beautiful little book. 

Our tiny earth as seen from space. 

(Thank you for all the attention and love for my very special blip yesterday. You are wonderful people.)