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Orbital
- Narrated by: Sarah Naudi
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
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Orbital
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below.
A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction.
The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
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Critic reviews
'Six astronauts on a space station are working, sleeping, and watching the world go by. They think about typhoons, algal blooms, seascapes, cities at night, Velázquez, frog calls, fried eggs, family. Orbital is a lush description of the gorgeous earth, and a broad-minded, level-headed, affectionate take on what goes on down here.' (Daisy Hildyard, author of Emergency)
What listeners say about Orbital
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Reviewing Things Hey
- 20-06-24
poetic style, hard sci-fi, good background for work, clear narration
ignore other negative reviews above average in every stake, listen to the sample, it's a good story for work, detailed, but no important story elements are missed if you get distracted for a minute, I could listen to this many times over
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Marc
- 13-09-24
A Beautiful Meditation on Life.
This was a beautifully narrated meditation on life seen from the vantage point of space, looking back at our small fragile planet.
I found myself swept away in my own reverie, sometimes missing the details whilst being conveyed on something that was greater than the sum of it's parts.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr Red
- 15-08-24
A beautiful exploration of humanity… from the space station
Gorgeous, satisfying prose and lucid, intelligent writing. Although the action is curtailed and confined, the ideas are unfettered and the collective concerns of the astronauts/cosmonauts encircle the earth with their craft.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Craig Martin Jones
- 07-08-24
Space poetry
This was a beautiful listen.
I enjoyed the back stories for the characters, but wanted to more.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Ricci
- 13-09-24
Is it a sermon? Is it a poem? No, and it’s not a novel either
I went to the Edinburgh Book Festival and heard Samantha Harvey talking about her book and the process of researching and writing it. I couldn’t wait, I wanted to download and read it immediately - but of course I had other books on the go. Now I have read it and … well … I’m wondering why I didn’t learn my lesson from last year’s Book Festival. (Last year the self same thing happened with ‘In Ascension’ by Martin MacInnes). Samantha’s book has no plot. Sometimes it sermonises, but it’s not a sermon. Sometimes I thought it was trying to do the work of a poem, but it’s not really poetic. Orbital (and In Ascension is like this too I think) tries to capture the wonder of science, but fails because it’s science-writing by an artist. Of course, I love artists, I love poetry, conceptual art, music, theatre etc. etc. long live artists. But the wonder of science, for me, comes from understanding it (in so far as any of us understands anything). What’s wonderful is the fact of a thing - not its shape, its colour, its connection in the grain with another thing, or whatever. Go deeper. Expose the next fact. That’s what makes peoples’ eyes go wide, that’s what children do. Samantha, if you’ve studied philosophy and you’re great at writing, study some maths or physics. I promise you you can do it, then write it, in whatever form you like. It’ll be dynamite
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Roger Smith
- 04-03-24
An interesting book spoilt by poor narration
This is a brave attempt to combine literature, science, philosophy in a lyrical novel. Sadly the narrator just couldn't do it justice. She was obviously not understanding some of what she read, her diction was poor, and her timing erratic. To be fair, this book isn't the easiest read, but so many Audible narrators could have done a better job.
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