See the Big Picture With 'The Orbital Perspective': Review

If youre anything like me, you get a lot of your news online through various news and social media sources (especially Discovery News!). This is great, as it puts the mostup-to-date information in front of you instantly. But sometimes its nice to sit down and open up a real live book toexplorea topic much more intimately than you normally could online.

PHOTOS: An Awe-Inspiring Space Station Odyssey

As a member of the Orbital Perspective Release Crew,I recently had the opportunity to do precisely that with a free copy of Ron Garans book The Orbital Perspective: Lessons in Seeing the Big Picture from a Journey of 71 Million Miles.

Adecorated fighter pilot, astronaut, and entrepreneur, Ron has logged 178 days in space and over 71 million miles in orbit. He is the founder of the nonprofit social enterprise incubator Manna Energy Foundation and is also the founder of Fragile Oasis,which usesthe orbital perspective to inspire positive social and environmental action. During his time living and working in space over the course of two missions shuttle mission STS-124 and Expedition 27/28 aboard the ISS as well as participating in various humanitarian programs on Earth, Ron has developed a sense of acute awareness of the interconnectiveness of humanity, of how we really are all in this together. Unfortunately, regardless of how beautiful our planet looks from orbit theres no denying that actual living conditions in many places around the world are belied by that beauty.

ANALYSIS: Ron Garan: I Hope the Heat Shield and Parachutes Work

Having seen our world firsthand from both viewpoints, Ron has becomeaware of the paradox but doesnt believe that it has to be just the way things are he believes we have the ability to change things on a global scale but only if we work together only if we canachieve an orbital perspective.

This is not your typical space book. The Orbital Perspectivewont make you gasp in wonder at how the continents look from low-Earthorbitor dazzle you with glossy photographs of stars, aurorae, the Milky Way or massive spacecraft roaring into the sky. Thats not what its about. Yes, Ron has seen and been a part of all that, and yes, he does provide fascinating insight into the space program particularlythe collaboration between the U.S. and Russia to develop and construct the ISS. But The Orbital Perspective is much more about the effort itself than it is about Station or the Shuttle or what Earth looks like as it turns tirelessly below.

Collaboration in the literalsense of the word, laboringtogether is what Ron focuses on above all else because it is only through true collaborationthat amazing and world-changing things can be achieved.

PHOTO: Garan photographs a meteor from orbit

The Orbital Perspective is a book for anyone who works with people (which is almost everyone who is employed) and especially those who find themselves in roles that require bringing people together to solve a problem, whether within their own organization or halfway around the world. Working in space and working on Earth are surprisingly similar (besides that pesky gravity bit) if just in that both require individuals with specialized skill sets cooperatingtogether to achieve a common goal. Ron has been one of those individuals many times, and its a privilege to gain some of his personal insight.

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See the Big Picture With 'The Orbital Perspective': Review