Overview Effect


 * "Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. . . . It has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the sun."


 * - Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell

The Overview Effect is a collection of common psychological impacts of seeing Earth from above. This effect is most powerful in space travelers, perhaps especially the Apollo astronauts who traveled to a great enough distance that the whole planet can fit into one's visual field at once. Frank White's book on the subject was based largely on interviews with astronauts. The effect may apply, as Penelope Boston argues, to air travelers as well, and probably has some effect even when limited to looking at a video or photograph of Earth that was captured from a spacecraft.