Like many astronauts, I felt compelled to try to communicate what I was learning, so from orbit, I began posting photos on Twitter and other social media sites. The immediacy of the reactions and interactions, the collective sense of wonder, made me feel as connected to our planet and to other people as I ever have, though I was floating 250 miles above Earth in the company of just five other human beings.

It’s almost funny, really. How can someone as remarkable as Commander Hadfield be energized by the same social media validation as us commoners? But I think it’s different for him. Whereas I thirst for the approval of others, he values the human connection. He’s just “one of us.”

You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes by Chris Hadfield isn’t a book that you read, per se. Instead, it’s a book that reveals a whole new world to you. Filled with truly remarkable photos taken from the International Space Station (ISS), You Are Here offers an entirely different viewpoint of our planet. Land, water, and cloud formations begin to resemble living, breathing beings.

You might recall that I last featured Commander Chris Hadfield six years ago. In that post, he said you must “decide in your heart what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction.” He floated in a zero gravity environment, playing his guitar. But, he reminded us not to simply float through life. “Don’t let life randomly kick you into the adult you don’t want to become.”

And he has certainly lived up to his own advice. He’s continued to inspire the hearts and minds of both the young and the young-at-heart. Chris Hadfield dares us to wonder and to dream, to see things as they’ve never been seen before. Like how a long extinct volcano might resemble a fried egg. Or how the largely arbitrary lines we draw to divide countries are invisible from space. We are one.

It provides a new perspective; we are small, so much smaller even than we may have thought. To me, that’s not a frightening idea. It’s a helpful corrective to the frantic self-importance we are prone to as a species — and also a reminder to make the most of our moment on this beautiful, strange, durable yet fragile planet.

But you don’t need to be 408 kilometers (254 miles) above Earth aboard the International Space Station to see the bigger picture. Chris Hadfield’s son, Evan Hadfield, illustrates a similar yet completely different perspective with his Rare Earth series on YouTube. We need to see the forest for the trees, just as much as we need to see the trees for the forest.

The small things are the big things, just as much as the big things are the small things. It’s all about putting everything in perspective, seeing things from a slightly different angle.

For an almost otherworldly view of our pale blue dot, I highly recommend You Are Here. The hardcover would make a great coffee table book.