A coffee table book full of photographs astronaut Scott Kelly took in and from space. There's a section featuring images of life aboard the ISS and other pictures from his mission there, and one of lovely images of Earth showing its curvature, often with glowing aurora or with parts of the ISS also visible, including some space selfies in front of the station's cupola windows. But the bulk of it is made up of what Kelly calls "Earth Art": color-enhanced images of strikingly complex or varied terrain on the Earth's surface, some of which do look rather like abstract art. It's beautiful stuff, well-presented, although the accompanying text is fairly sparse, so don't expect any long explanations abut the geology of what you're looking at.

I have several books of Earth-from-space photographs now, and I never, ever seem to get tired of them. It really is an amazing planet we've got here. ( )

Astronaut Scott Kelly, a master of microgravity photography, shares a spectacular collection of photographs documenting his record-setting year-long stay aboard the International Space Station. Turn the pages of this exquisite coffee-table-sized volume and share in the wonder of the vast universe, the stunning beauty of our home planet.

The astronaut’s own commentary accompanies the dazzling photographs. Here readers glimpse life aboard the space station, observe sunrises, sunsets, and moonrises, and witness hurricanes, auroras, and wrinkled mountains . . . all combining to create a galaxy of glorious visions that make a compelling argument for the preservation of our planet and our civilization in the threatening face of global climate change and environmental destruction.

Highly recommended. ( )