#227 | This Short Novel Will Change the Way You Look At the ‘World’
Quick SUMMARY:
Douglas Vigliotti takes you on a journey through Samantha Harvey's 2023 novel "Orbital," a thought-provoking piece of literary fiction and a love letter to Earth. Discover how Harvey's meditative prose beautifully captures the essence of human achievement and our cosmic connection, all from the unique vantage point of space. Vigliotti also shares key quotes from the book, emphasizing the major themes of creation, unity, time, perception, triviality, and overall the nature of life.
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What’s Inside THE EPISODE?
Welcome back to the "Books for Men" podcast, where Douglas Vigliotti aims to inspire more men to read and foster a community of readers. In this episode, Douglas delves into the profound themes of Samantha Harvey's "Orbital," a short literary fiction novel published in 2023. This blog post will break down the key insights from the episode, offering actionable advice and thorough explanations to guide listeners and readers alike.
Introduction to "Orbital" by Samantha Harvey
"Orbital" is a concise yet impactful novel, approximately 190 pages long, that explores the nature of life, human achievement, and the perspective gained from viewing Earth from space. The book's setting aboard the International Space Station (ISS) provides a unique backdrop for deep reflection and meditative prose.
About the Author: Samantha Harvey
Samantha Harvey is an English author with five novels to her name, her debut being published in 2009. "Orbital" has garnered significant acclaim, including winning the prestigious Booker Prize, which recognizes the best book published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.
Key Themes and Reflections in "Orbital"
Douglas Vigliotti highlights several key themes in "Orbital," each offering profound insights into the human experience. Let's break down these themes and explore the actionable advice and reflections they inspire.
1. The Juxtaposition of Life's Triviality and Significance
One of the central themes in "Orbital" is the duality of life's triviality and significance. Douglas shares a poignant quote from the book: "Our lives here are inexpressibly trivial and momentous at once." This duality resonates deeply, prompting readers to contemplate the human experience and the realization that achievements can feel both monumental and inconsequential.
Actionable Advice:
Reflect on Personal Achievements: Take time to reflect on your own achievements and consider how they fit into the larger context of your life and the universe. This can provide a sense of perspective and help you appreciate both the small and significant moments.
Embrace Mindfulness: Practice mindfulness to stay present and appreciate the momentous aspects of everyday life. This can enhance your overall well-being and deepen your connection to the world around you.
2. The Meditative Quality of Space
The setting of the ISS in "Orbital" provides a unique perspective on life, evoking feelings of smallness and insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe. The astronauts' observations of Earth from space, such as a typhoon approaching an island in the South Pacific, highlight the contrast between their lofty position and the immense forces of nature below.
Actionable Advice:
Engage in Meditative Practices: Incorporate meditation or other reflective practices into your daily routine to cultivate a sense of calm and perspective. This can help you navigate life's challenges with greater ease.
Explore Nature: Spend time in nature to experience the vastness and beauty of the world firsthand. This can foster a deeper connection to the environment and enhance your appreciation for the planet.
3. The Power of Storytelling
Douglas emphasizes the power of storytelling in connecting people with complex ideas and experiences. He recalls a statement by Daniel Kahneman, a renowned psychologist, who suggested that humans respond better to stories than to data and numbers. This insight aligns with the emotional impact of Harvey's writing.
Actionable Advice:
Share Your Stories: Whether through writing, speaking, or other creative outlets, share your personal stories and experiences. This can help you connect with others and foster a sense of community.
Read Diverse Narratives: Explore a wide range of literary works to gain different perspectives and deepen your understanding of the human experience. This can enrich your own storytelling and broaden your worldview.
4. The Importance of Shared Experiences
The astronauts in "Orbital" form a unique bond as they navigate their shared experiences aboard the ISS. This theme underscores the importance of connection and the extraordinary nature of human achievement.
Actionable Advice:
Foster Connections: Build and nurture relationships with those around you, whether through shared activities, conversations, or collaborative projects. This can enhance your sense of belonging and support.
Celebrate Achievements: Recognize and celebrate both individual and collective achievements. This can boost morale and inspire continued growth and success.
Additional Recommendations
Douglas draws a parallel between "Orbital" and Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," noting that both works explore the vastness of space and the human experience within it. He also shares additional quotes from the book that highlight the astronauts' emotional journeys and the profound nature of their experiences.
Additional Advice:
Explore Related Works: Delve into other literary and cinematic works that explore similar themes, such as "2001: A Space Odyssey." This can provide a richer understanding of the genre and its exploration of human existence.
Engage with Thought Leaders: Follow and engage with thought leaders in the fields of literature, psychology, and space exploration. This can provide valuable insights and inspire further reflection on the themes discussed in "Orbital."
Conclusion
In this episode of "Books for Men," Douglas Vigliotti offers a thoughtful exploration of "Orbital" and its themes, encouraging listeners to reflect on their own lives and the larger universe around them. By embracing the meditative quality of space, the power of storytelling, and the importance of shared experiences, readers can gain a deeper appreciation for the human experience and the miracle of existence.
Call to Action:
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Explore Douglas's Work: Check out Douglas Vigliotti's book, "Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story," and visit his website for additional resources.
Connect and Engage: Follow Douglas on Instagram @douglasvigliotti and sign up for the monthly newsletter to receive key quotes and insights from the podcast episodes on BooksforMen.org.
By engaging with these resources and reflecting on the themes discussed in "Orbital," readers can embark on a journey of self-discovery and connection to the larger universe!
READ THE TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So. Today I have a book that I am excited to share with you. It is a short work of literary fiction that came out in 2023, and by short I mean under 200 pages. So somewhere around 190 or something like that. It is titled “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey. So before I get into anything about the book, some of my favorite takeaways and quotes and all that good stuff, I did want to quickly remind you about my new book, which is available everywhere now, and it is titled “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story”. If you'd like to find out more information about that, you can visit AristotleforNovelists.com also on that website if you are a storyteller yourself, or maybe you're trying to tell a story or like to, there is a nifty little resource that I created to go along with the book. That is a ten-question assessment to help you determine if you have a working story based on Aristotelian principles, and you can download that on the website AristotleforNovelists.com.
01:23 - The link for that will be in the show notes. All right. So now let's turn to today's book and author. Who is Samantha Harvey? She is an English author of five novels. I believe her debut was in 2009. So she's been at it for 14 years, probably longer than that. But from a publisher standpoint, honestly, I don't know too much about her, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel that I am sharing with you today. And it's funny, it actually came to me on recommendation from somebody who I had an extensive conversation with about art and literature and movies. And he messaged me sort of out of the blue and said, you got to check this out. I think you would really like it. And man, did he hit the nail on the head. So I am very excited, as I've already mentioned, to share this book with you today. It was actually a Booker Prize winner of that year, which is a top literary prize for those who don't know, and it is given to the best.
02:30 - I'm using air quotes because we all know that that is a very subjective term. But the best book published in the United Kingdom or in Ireland. So I don't want to waste too much time getting to what the book is actually about because it's really interesting. And to me, this novel is all about the setting and the setup. And if I'm being totally honest, it's probably one of the best usages that I've ever read of both of those things setting and set up. And it sort of has to be because it's barely a story. It's a slice of life, certainly, which most people would consider literary fiction in general. But there's almost no plot associated with this book, which sort of makes me enjoying it even more ironic, because I love good plotting, even in literary fiction. But the thing I love even more than good plotting is when something comes along and disrupts the current way that I look at the world, whether that's in a micro sense with literature or in the broader sense of the term, like literally the world, which this book sort of did.
03:43 - So basically, six astronauts are circling around the planet in the International Space Station, all from obviously different countries, or some of them are duplicates, but you get the point. And they are basically just reflecting on the nature of life. What makes it so interesting for those who don't pick this up initially because I didn't pick it up initially. I don't have a very base-level understanding of space and space travel, and all of that stuff is that the International Space Station orbits the Earth 16 times in 24 hours. That's 90 minutes in orbit. This alone was enough to sort of blow my mind, especially when it's done in a literary sense on the page as it's being described to you. It becomes very visceral and quite meditative, I would say. But everything is done in the novel to be additive to that. And those major themes of putting time in perspective and making you feel really, really small. Sure, there are other things that it emphasizes and things that I love, like unity and connectivity and human achievement, but all with the idea of you being such a small, insignificant element to this much greater thing that is happening around you, inside of you, unknowingly everywhere.
05:16 - And I know I'm being a little bit cryptic, but it's how the book makes you feel. You really reflect a lot on life. It's not even that great at character development, but this even in itself makes you feel a bit smaller, at least to me. Some might disagree, but I felt very small while reading this novel. And even there's this big juxtaposition in the novel as they rotate around the Earth. There's a typhoon, which is normally obviously this large thing that is approaching an island. I can't remember which one in the South Pacific, and they watch it iteratively get closer and closer and closer. And of course, as they see this from above, it makes us feel so much smaller. The ending ties this together really nicely. I won't get into that because I don't want to spoil it for you, but just to tie a bow on that. Among the many great quotes in excerpts I pulled from this novel, many will be featured on the newsletter at the end of the month, but I wanted to read you a passage that really ties together that smallness concept really well, she writes.
06:33 – “Our lives here are inexpressible trivial and momentous at once, it seems he's about to wake up and say, both repetitive and unprecedented, we matter greatly and not at all to reach some pinnacle of human achievement, only to discover that your achievements are next to nothing and that to understand this is the greatest achievement of any life, which itself is nothing, and also much more than everything.” So I should just let you meditate on that for a moment. But instead, I'm going to jump into some of the larger takeaways, which, like always, I've already started to share with you. But the first thing is that I really believe this novel to be a love letter to Earth, and I'm happy that it puts a spotlight on this. If for nothing else, at least for selfish reasons, it completely shifted my mind on how I look at the world and the things that I think about when I think about the bigger picture and the miracle that is life and our earth. And if I'm being totally honest, it also shines a really large spotlight on the power of story.
07:56 - I know for many, science and space is a marveling thing, but for a large segment of people, when you are encountering Environments, ideas, cultures, things you don't know about. The ability to package those in a story is really, really powerful. It made me think of something that relates to this. But is not this at all? I once heard Daniel Kahneman, the iconic Nobel Prize-winning social scientist. Psychologist I don't know, researcher I don't know I don't know what his special title is, but he's very well regarded in the world of decision making and human behavior and cognitive science. And he said, and of course, I'm paraphrasing him because I don't have the exact quote in front of me. But in short words, basically, if you want to convince humans of anything, then you have to do it with a story because they just don't respond to data and numbers. And it reminded me a lot of how this book made me feel in relation to our earth and humanity, and it really just helped put things in perspective.
09:13 - Also, the second thing that I wanted to just mention to you quickly was that I know I alluded to this earlier in that the book is short for this book particularly. I think that that is a real strength, mostly because in the absence of a plot, it could get very tiring and you never get tired at all in this book. So to me, whether it started out at this length, was edited down to this length, or any of it, the fact that it is this length is a super strength for this book, at least for me. I'll also comment quickly on her prose, which I've already mentioned to be meditative, and it's quite lyrical, which is something that is not always in my wheelhouse, but I really enjoyed it. And if that's your thing, then I think you're really going to love it. The last thing that I wanted to share with you is that I found it really interesting that “2001: A Space Odyssey”, the Stanley Kubrick movie, which among many things, is another great representation of space in an artistic sense, and pretty much both of them are plotless to a degree.
10:23 - This book, a lot more so than that movie, but I've sort of concluded that, at least in an artistic standpoint, there must be something to this floaty nothingness in both a plot sense and an aesthetic sense to a true depiction of space. It's even hard for the mind to truly conceive. And how do you articulate and show that? And I pulled a great quote from the book that sort of hits on this. Harvey writes, “Nell wants sometimes to ask Sean how it is he could be an astronaut and believe in God. A creationist God, that is. But she knows what his answer would be. He'd ask how it is she can be an astronaut and not believe in God. They draw a blank.” Or there's this one that's a tad bit longer where she writes, “At first on their missions, they each miss their families. Sometimes so much that it seems to scrape out their insides. Now, out of necessity, they've come to see that their family is this one here. These others who know the things they know and see the things they see, with whom they need no words of explanation. When they get back, how will they even begin to say what happened to them, who and what they were?”
11:58 - So without going into much detail to end this here, it's just an illumination for me of so many things one the unbelievable nature of what is happening, and to that last passage really calls to light the importance of experience and the irreplaceable ability of experience, at least for me. And, you know, I just can't help myself. I was going to end this episode without sharing this quote, but I kind of want it to live on the podcast forever, so I will do it. It is probably the most powerful excerpt that I pulled from the book. All of these, plus more will be in the newsletter, but I will end with this one about Michael Collins, who, of course, was the third astronaut on the moon landing team with Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. And not only is it really meditative, but I think it pairs well with the other quotes that I have just shared with you.
12:57 - And she writes, “In the photograph Collins took there's the lunar module carrying Armstrong and Aldrin just behind them, the moon, and some 250,000 miles beyond that Earth, a blue half sphere hanging in all blackness and bearing mankind. Michael Collins is the only human being not in that photograph. It is said, and this has always been a source of great enchantment. Every single other person currently in existence to mankind's knowledge is contained in that image. Only one is missing. He who made the image.” All right, I promise I am done now. Thank you so much for listening to this first episode of 2025. I hope that you enjoyed it. And if you did, I want to remind you to please remember to click subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, or if you have it in you, please take two seconds to rate this podcast. Either one of those goes a long way and helps more people find the show, and in return, inspires more men to read. Also, if you'd like to find out more information on my new book, “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story”, visit AristotleforNovelists.com.
14:27 - The link for that will also be in the show notes. If you want to connect with me, there are two ways to do so, either by visiting my website DouglasVigliotti.com, or link up with me on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti. It's the only social media that I have. And finally, if you want more information on this podcast, including how to sign up for that monthly newsletter, the one that I referenced a couple of times in this episode that features key quotes and excerpts and episode summaries and all that good stuff from all the episodes. Then all you have to do is head over to the website BooksforMen.org.
