One restless summer, anxious and dismayed by mounting crisis and conflict on Earth, poet and journalist Marjolijn van Heemstra learns of a phenomenon known as the overview effect. Experienced by many astronauts when beholding our planet from the remoteness of space, it’s a permanent shift in consciousness—an overwhelming sense of wholeness and connection with humanity and the planet. In Light-Years There’s No Hurry is the account of van Heemstra’s yearlong quest to experience the overview effect on Earth. We follow as she takes a night walk through a forest in search of true darkness, listens to the distant singing of exoplanets at a radio observatory and learns of prisoners working with astrophysicists to imagine possible human settlements on Mars. Contemplating the solace a cosmic perspective offers in our frenetic, divided world, In Light-Years There’s No Hurry is a lyrical, searching meditation on what it is to be human amidst the vastness of the universe.

Translated by: Jonathan Reeder