Home Planet

by Kevin W. Kelley

Six weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and 500,000 copies sold in 16 editions around the world, this spectacular collection of photographs of Earth taken from space, accompanied by lyrical narrative of space travel in the words of astronauts and cosmonauts from eighteen different countries, illuminates just how precarious and vulnerable our planet really is. Full color throughout.

Genres: Science, Photography, Art, Geography, Reference, Nonfiction, Space

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Gary]

This is a gorgeous book. It is a coffee table book I suppose but one to dip into and out of as your mood suits.

Written by astronauts/cosmonauts of many nationalities, it contains narratives that try to convey the genuine feelings of humanity and one-ness of nationhood for all humans experienced by those who have seen with their own eyes how tiny, vulnerable and insignificant earth is in the context of the vastness of space; and how racism, sexism, greed, exploitation and the destruction of the earth's precious resources are ridiculous, pointless and ultimately destructive to the nth degree.

Moving but also very beautiful, containing loads of amazing colour photographs of earth and closeups of many estuaries, mountain ranges, cities at night - incredible images.

A wonderful book to treasure and reflect on.

[Mary]

There's only one word for this book: beautiful. It is a collection of the words and pictures of men and women (well, at least one woman!) who left the earth to travel in space. Several Astronauts and Cosmonauts, seeing our planet from that perspective, banded together in an organization called the association of space explorers. As Cosmonaut Oleg Makarov says in his preface, the space explorers desire to share the beauty they experienced "in order to unite all the peoples of the Earth in the task of safeguarding our common and only, fragile and beautiful, home."

You will need to browse the photos and thoughts yourself, if you can. It's not a book one can read straight through. Here are just a couple of gems:

"I would have wished that after my return people would have asked me how it was out there. How I coped with the glistening blackness of the world and how I felt being a star that circled the earth." (Reinhard Furrer, FDR,)

"The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic. The Earth was absolutely round. I believe I never knew what the word round meant until I saw Earth from space. (Aleksei Leonev, USSR)

[Kathy]

The Earth is amazing. Space is amazing. There it is,

[Shain Wozniak]

You will be in awe. No bullshit. Absolute awe.

[Catherine]

A beautiful book. I’ve had it for many years but only recently decided to read it all the way through having only dipped into it previously. Not only a beautiful book but beautiful captions from international astronauts and cosmonauts. It should be on every schools curricula around the world as all the reflections point to one thing … we all live on a fragile “blue dot” that we need to look after. For instance :

“ … within ten minutes you have been carried straight through the layer of air, and beyond there is nothing! Beyond the air is only emptiness, coldness, darkness. The “boundless” blue sky, the ocean which gives us breath and protects us from the endless black and death, is but an infinitesimally thin film. How dangerous it is to threaten even the smallest part of this gossamer covering, this conserver of life. “ Vladimir Shatalov

“ Before I flew I was already aware of how small and vulnerable our planet is; but only when I saw it from space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I realise that humankind’s most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations. “ Sigmund Jähn

[Robert Zverina]

Political boundaries are dissolved by a moon's-eye view of Earth to create bold visions of the planet through 150 color photographs culled from the American and then-Soviet archives. The pictures are allowed to speak for themselves, with only tiny captions describing locales and weather conditions. Commentary is provided solely by eloquent quotes from astronauts of 18 nations which are shown both in original language (be it Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Mongolian, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Dutch, or Russian) and English translation. The message is simple--we are all citizens of the same global nation.

Conceived and edited for the Association of Space Explorers, no earthling will be unmoved by the views, both photographic and verbal, regarding our home. From desert to arctic, ocean to breadbasket, this book will delight anyone who's ever looked through an airplane window to marvel at the forms below.

[Richard]

Coffee table book. Inscribed, 1988, from mother & stepfather.

[Muris]

Photos are breathaking