The Atlantic

The Books Briefing: One Small Step That Opened a Lifetime of Wonder

One giant leap for literature: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Source: China Stringer Network / Reuters

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11moon landing, which revealed a new visual perspective of humans’ home planet, set in the deep suspension of a newly documented outer space. The fiction writerDon DeLillo incorporated that image into a short story, in which one character aboard an orbiting space station becomes transfixed byastronaut Chris Hadfield took thousands of photographsduring his own, real-lifeorbit, which he published in a book for people who may never get to enjoy the same view.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Return of the John Birch Society
Michael Smart chuckled as he thought back to their banishment. Truthfully he couldn’t say for sure what the problem had been, why it was that in 2012, the John Birch Society—the far-right organization historically steeped in conspiracism and oppositi
The Atlantic17 min read
How America Became Addicted to Therapy
A few months ago, as I was absent-mindedly mending a pillow, I thought, I should quit therapy. Then I quickly suppressed the heresy. Among many people I know, therapy is like regular exercise or taking vitamin D: something a sensible person does rout
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop

Related