Orbital
by Samantha Harvey · first published 2023
100% recommend
A slender novel of epic power and the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrat
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My favorites that I read this year were: - Playground by Richard Powers: the ocean reminds us that we, along with our obsessions and rivalries, are small - Orbital by Samantha Harvey: a book were not much happens, but a lot goes on below the surface - Hum by Helen Phillips: looks at an AI controlled near future through a different lens - Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow:…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗…https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201319612-magic-pill On the Edge - Nate Silver - About how seeing the world in terms of risk and expected value can work. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204236707-on-the-edge Orbital - Samantha Harvey - Booker Prize winner about people on the ISS and the world. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123136728-orbital Build, Baby, Build - Bryan Caplan on why YIMBYism is a good idea.…
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗Man’s Search For Meaning (Frankl), The Color Purple (Walker), Orbital (Harvey) Not specifically for the HN community but these are the only books I read this year that I would recommend without qualification.
on “Ask HN: End of Year Book Recommendations” ↗