• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

  • About
    • Ambassador from the future
  • Past lives
    • Professional
      • Volans
      • SustainAbility
      • CounterCurrent
      • Boards & Advisory Boards
      • Awards & Listings
    • Personal
      • Family
      • Other Influences
      • Education
      • Photography
      • Music
      • Cycling
    • Website
  • Speaking
    • Media
    • Exhibitions
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Reports
    • Articles & Blogs
    • Contributions
    • Tweets
    • Unpublished Writing
  • Journal
  • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Earthrise And The Last Pilot

John Elkington · 9 August 2015 · Leave a Comment

Last-Pilot-cover-RGB-667x1024

I have been privileged to read some great novels in recent weeks, as I took my nano-sabbatical and received this past week front from a third bout of the labyrinthitis/vertigo that first hit me after a small exploratory operation last year. All appealed in different ways. Rhett have included: Ghost Fleet by P.W. Singer and August Cole, The Ends of the Earth by Robert Goddard, and The Interrogator by Andrew Williams, his first novel.

The Last Pilot, which I finished this afternoon, is Benjamin Johncock’s first novel, and I’d be tempted to put it at the head of the list. The story of an X-15 test pilot and astronaut in the early days of the race for the Moon, the book is also an extraordinary account of the ups and downs of astronaut Jim Harrison’s wife, Grace.

The arc of the story was clear to me early on, because counter-intuitive, but the outcome still took a surprising trajectory – and the ending gives the astronauts’ eye view of the Earthrise images sent back from Apollo 8. These images, for me, have been a visual leitmotif, with all the aesthetic appeal of a cathedral’s rose window, but with (for me at least) an even more profound existential significance.

600px-NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise

Apart from the Harrisons’ daughter, Florence, the key character for me was Pancho Barnes. A wonderfully powerful portrayal of an extraordinary woman. In my mind’s eye, she was a version of Gertrude Stein as played by Kathy Bates in Midnight in Paris.

Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

Recent Comments

  • PATRICK DICK on Reminder of Glencot Years
  • Milton Marino Gómez Ortiz on Tickling Sharks
  • John Elkington on Green Swans A “Must-Read”

Journal Archive

About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

Contact

john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

John Elkington

Copyright © 2025 John Elkington. All rights reserved. Log in