The Home Planet

Publisher:  Addison Wesley
Year Published:  1988
ISBN:  ISBN 0-201-15197-9
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX3480

Abstract: 
A coffee table book with the guiding vision that we all share one fragile planet, and that sharing calls on us to live in peace with each other and in harmony with the environment. Striking colour photographs of Earth taken from space are complemented with commentary from astronauts and cosmonauts. Oleg Makarov writes that in space "you get the impression that you are watching a map gliding by beneath you, a map just like the ones at school with mountains and rivers and landmasses and oceans all perfectly inscribed. Unconsciously, you look for the lines that are usual on such maps, the parallels and meridians; it is strange not to see the markings on the living map." Ernst Messerschmid observes that "When the Russian cosmonaut tells me that the atmosphere over Lake Baikal is as polluted as it is over Europe, and when the American astronaut tells me that fifteen years ago he could take much clearer pictures of the industrial centres than today, then I am getting concerned." Sigmund Jaehn says that "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 realize that humankind's most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations."

Subject Headings

• Geography