#558: A new image of Earth from Space

Via Artemis II.

#431: Earthrise

This photograph could be said to have kick started the environmental movement. Connects with a fairly recent post #372.

It was first seen in a special issue of the New York Times.

It was taken by NASA astronaut: William Anders using a Hasselblad camera during the Apollo 

This was the first mission to take a manned vehicle around the 'dark side' of the moon.

The original photo had the moon vertically in the frame, and has been cropped and rotated for impact. I have copies on postcards but it has been used numerous times.

William Anders sadly died in 2024 reducing the number of people still alive who have actually stood on the moon, or were part of the original NASA Apollo missions.

#393: Congratulations to Samantha Harvey

In post #372, I added a mention for Samantha Harvey's book 'Orbital' and added it to the GCSE Natural History booklist.

On Tuesday this week, the book was announced as the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize!

Well done to Samantha. I was hoping that the book would win. I hope that it leads to lots more people experiencing this excellent book.

I am planning a new unit based on the book which I shall be teaching to Year 6 students in January 2025. More to come on this as the project develops.

#372: Natural History Reading List #20: 'Orbital'

Updated November 2024

A cross-posting from my GeoLibrary blog which has hundreds of books recommended and with some information about where they might be used, and why they deserve a shelf on the GeoLibrary.

This book is on the Booker longlist. It's a fiction book, but is packed with geography.

It's about four astronauts and two cosmonauts in the International Space Station.

The author said of the book that she wanted to write a 'space pastoral'

The book follows one day, and the orbits they trace over the world. In between their routine jobs and exercise, we hear about them and their families and their thoughts as they stare down on the earth below - tracking the path of a super-typhoon with their privileged view of the world below.

There are some truly wonderful passages, and it's definitely a geography book.

The descriptions of each landscape and country as they appear are really beautiful.

The section here is part of a chapter - they are all very short and this helps you subdivide the book if you want to prolong the reading of it and savour each page - which looks at the point where the astronauts and cosmonauts realise that they can see the hand of people everywhere on the planet which is described as "a landscape of want" - something I've talked about before.

It also links with another story I've told many times before: Bill Anders, 'Earthrise' and the impact of the experience of being in space on those who have to literally come back down to Earth.

I've just finished it and it comes very highly recommended.

Read an extract here.

My copy was published by Vintage and purchased from Topping Books in Ely - support your local independent bookshops!

Paperback, 144pp

ISBN: 978-1529922936

UPDATE
Congratulations to Samantha Harvey. This book was announced on the 12th of November as the winner of the Booker Prize 2024. There has been a lot of press coverage as a result and hopefully plenty of sales.

#187: i/o

I had the great good fortune to see Peter Gabriel once again playing live this summer - I think for the 7th or 8th time that I've seen him over the years. 

His forthcoming album is called i/O and there is a track on the album with the same name.

Gabriel says in the lyrics to the song:

So we think we really live apart

Because we’ve got two legs, a brain, and a heart

We all belong to everything
To the octopus suckers and the buzzard’s wing
To the elephant’s trunk and buzzing bee’s sting

Another track on the same theme is called Olive Tree.

This includes the following lines:

I’ve got thе cool breeze right on my skin
Bringing every cеll to life
Making all connections live
From one point to another
And we’re all here, just the same
Tryna' make some sense of it

The album as a whole is about how we are all part of something bigger.

Check out the visuals as well...

Image: Alan Parkinson, and shared under CC license

#74: Earth - the final episode

 This series concluded last night...

Catch it on iPlayer - particularly this final episode.

In 30 mins on @BBCTwo we conclude our #Earth series . 4.5 (ish) million years in 5 (ish) hours . Only the BBC could/would do this & get the support of >200 scientists @OpenUniversity I’d say it has been the greatest story ever told , and I’d say my final PTC is one of the most… https://t.co/yQXUqVZtgi

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) August 14, 2023