I would have liked this book better if I was an astronaut, and I'm not, so I don't feel a huge kinship with it. It just felt so specifically like looking out of the window of a spacecraft.

The writing is like eating the foam off the top of an exceptionally well made cappuccino. It's very nice while it's there, but vanishes quickly, leaving only a vague sense of satisfaction behind. Pages 87 to 88, however, were lovely and will stick in my brain for a while. 

I don't think many people will be able to relate to the vivid, dizzying descriptions of the Earth spinning (unless they've been to space), but they were evocative nonetheless. It's like the literary equivalent of that scene in Gravity when you suddenly realise how fast the Earth actually moves. 

Overall, I think this book would be good for someone who really, really likes descriptions. There is very little plot and not much in the way of story. It's like a collection of (literal) observations. At times these observations slip dangerously close to being trite, but are just about recovered by the overall brevity of the book. I admire the craft, and might reread sections of it, but it isn't the most riveting novel I have ever encountered. 

It's also attempting to be apolitical which annoyed me so I knocked half a star off.