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Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet's Future
For the first time in Earth's history, our planet is experiencing a confluence of rapidly accelerating changes prompted by one species: humans. Climate change is only the most visible of the modifications we've made—up until this point, inadvertently—to the planet. And our current behavior threatens not only our own future but that of countless other creatures. By comparing Earth's story to those of other planets, astrobiologist David Grinspoon shows what a strange and novel development it is for a species to evolve to build machines, and ultimately, global societies with world-shaping influence.
Without minimizing the challenges of the next century, Grinspoon suggests that our present moment is not only one of peril, but also great potential, especially when viewed from a 10,000-year perspective. Our species has surmounted the threat of extinction before, thanks to our innate ingenuity and ability to adapt, and there's every reason to believe we can do so again.
Our challenge now is to awaken to our role as a force of planetary change, and to grow into this task. We must become graceful planetary engineers, conscious shapers of our environment and caretakers of Earth's biosphere. This is a perspective that begs us to ask not just what future do we want to avoid, but what do we seek to build? What kind of world do we want? Are humans the worst thing or the best thing to ever happen to our planet? Today we stand at a pivotal juncture, and the answer will depend on the choices we make.
Without minimizing the challenges of the next century, Grinspoon suggests that our present moment is not only one of peril, but also great potential, especially when viewed from a 10,000-year perspective. Our species has surmounted the threat of extinction before, thanks to our innate ingenuity and ability to adapt, and there's every reason to believe we can do so again.
Our challenge now is to awaken to our role as a force of planetary change, and to grow into this task. We must become graceful planetary engineers, conscious shapers of our environment and caretakers of Earth's biosphere. This is a perspective that begs us to ask not just what future do we want to avoid, but what do we seek to build? What kind of world do we want? Are humans the worst thing or the best thing to ever happen to our planet? Today we stand at a pivotal juncture, and the answer will depend on the choices we make.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published April 19, 2016
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June 9, 2017
David Grinspoon, astrobiologist and Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute, is the author of two well-known books, Venus Revealed and Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life. His latest book that came out in 2016, Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet's Future offers some interesting thoughts.
Milankovič cycles were first described by a Serbian geophysicist and astronomer Milutin Milanković in the 1920s. These periods are due to the eccentricity of the planetary orbit, the axial tilt, and the precession and they have a profound significance on how the earth evolved. The eccentricity causes 400,000 and 100,000-year cycles, the axial tilt 41,000-year cycles and the precession about 26,000-year cycles. These three cycles combine to affect the amount of solar heat that’s incident on the Earth’s surface and subsequently influence its climatic patterns.
The 26,000-year cycle (or 25,920 to be exact) could be perhaps one of the earliest cosmic mysteries cracked by human beings. Some believe that this was known to Mesopotamian and Indian civilisations in the Neolithic ages, around 5000 - 4000 B.C. It was estimated to be 25,920 years by the proto-scientists in the dawn of history, even before written languages were born.
The sexagesimal, or base-60, the numeral system of the near-east arose because 25,920 is divisible by 60. Therefore 432, which is 25,920 divided by 60 is a sacred number for most ancient civilisations. This 'grand year' of 25,920 solar years was also responsible for the cyclic nature of time adopted all ancient religions in Mesopotamia, India and Egypt. One “Mahā-yuga” of Hindu calendar is 4.32 million years, and a “Kalpa" is a period of 4.32 billion years.
Milankovitch cycles are now recognised significant to studies on palaeoclimatology and evolution of life. Appearance and demise of species are related to climatic events coinciding with these long cycles. It may have a role on how life first appeared on earth, how it became more and more complicated and ultimately to give rise to a particular species, the Homo Sapiens. Moreover, the Sapiens apparently have the ability to control these cycles if they decide to do so.
The idea of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and the atmosphere was well understood for long. However, the idea that the controlling forces rise in the biosphere was the contribution of Vladimir Vernadsky, the Ukrainian geochemist. In his 1926 book, “The Biosphere”, he argued it was the life that shapes the earth.
Vernadsky did not stop there. He talked about the “noösphere”, the sphere of human thought. He said that noösphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the development of human cognition fundamentally changes the biosphere. Going one step further, noösphere or another derivative arising from it may fundamentally change this planet or the cosmos itself.
However, how did life on earth become such a formidable force? Where did it all this start?
Going by the whatever evidence we have, we are quite lonely. Gaia hypothesis, proposed in the 1970s by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, has steadily marched on to become Gaia theory or Gaia principle. Lovelock’s early career was in alien life exploration. He thought that life anywhere could be readily detected by the effects it makes, especially in the atmosphere. That later got him into Martian climate studies.
"Lynn Margulis’s name is as synonymous with symbiosis as Charles Darwin's is with evolution,” said historian Jan Sapp. She described the endosymbiosis theory that made complex life or eukaryotes possible. Eukaryotes, which includes humans like us, came into being after a bacteria made an archaeon its home. That bacteria continues to exist as mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, within all complex life. The chance encounter of a bacteria and an archaeon was also an incredibly rare event, having happened only once. Complex life is not easy to get.
Gaia hypothesis prophesied that life in a planet cannot exist in niches. It has to be a planet-wide phenomenon. However, it has to start somewhere. Opinions on where this spot could be belong to the realm of speculation. The most favoured one used to be a warm pond somewhere on the surface of the earth, where lightning could strike. Warm pond hypothesis has started falling out of favour today.
Non-oxygenated early earth atmosphere had a surface bathed in ultra-violet radiations. No life can exist on a warm pond on the surface of the earth. If fact it was only very late in history, about 400 million years that life appeared on land. For the most of its existence, life hid in the deepest depths of oceans, where no light could penetrate.
Plate tectonics is today evoked to explain all the geological process. Plate tectonics constantly keeps a planet a pulsating hub of constant movements. Volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are all the effects of plate movements. Plate tectonics also gives rise to hydrothermal vents that rise from ocean floors. Discovery recently of alkaline hydrothermal vents like the “Lost City” changed our perception.
In the early days of earth, in the absence of oxygen, alkaline vents are proposed to have acted as electrochemical flow reactors. Here alkaline fluids saturated in H2 mixed with relatively acidic ocean waters rich in CO2, through a labyrinth of interconnected micropores available in the deep-sea vents. The difference in pH across thin barriers of the vent walls produced natural proton gradients. The flow of electrons is electricity, the flow of proton, proticity.
Life is nothing but proticity. The powerhouse of the cell, mitochondria, produces proticity.
Carbon fixation was possible thanks to proticity. Early single-celled organisms used their cell membranes to generate a proton flow that can produce hydrocarbon compounds. However, there is a limit to the amount of ‘skin’ one could have. This constraint disappeared when life invented mitochondria.
Another revolution that happened some time later was the appearance of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria were able to produce energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis was one of the first disasters to befall the earth. Oxygen, a deadly poison to most other life, was the waste product of photosynthesis. Most of life disappeared in this holocaust.
New oxygen tolerant forms slowly took over and reestablished life back on the desolate planet. Life is a tough bitch. The greening of the globe also started in a small way. For most of the land to become green, it took very long time more, after the oxygen in the atmosphere increased, and a protective ozone layer appeared. Ozone blocked the deadly ultra-violet radiations. Life surfaced from dark depths and hesitantly moved on to land. Land-based plants appeared in a big way only some four hundred million years ago.
Life has unintentionally changed the global physical environment. However, intentional shifts on a global scale belonged to a quite insignificant and weak species that came later.
We know them as Homo Sapiens. However, they were only one among a score or more of human species that could walk and talk.
Human evolution has been pushed and pulled by the motions of the planets. Milankovič cycles saw the birth and death of species. They also heralded numerous ice ages of the past. The last glacial period started about 110,000 years ago and ended 12,000 years ago.
Humans, including Homo Sapiens, retreated to caves when ice age started. When it ended 12,000 years back only one species remained - Homo Sapiens. All other cousins were long gone.
Surviving Sapiens emerged stronger and different. They stopped behaving like any other animal species. They started having beliefs and religions. They began having complex languages and philosophical debates. They started agriculture revolution, with which began the first intentional planetary-scale changes.
Sea level stabilised six to seven thousand years ago. The first large coastal settlements began emerging. Great civilisations developed in Iraq, Egypt and India.
A new era, the age of humans, the Anthropocene emerged. It was a misnomer. No other human species, save the Sapiens remained by now. So it is not the Human era, but a Sapien era that was inaugurated.
The Sapien era saw how a single insignificant species could become the masters of a planet and start to decide how the physical environment and biosphere should behave. Ice ages came in tandem with Milankovič cycles in the past. Sapiens ingenuity made nuclear winter a possibility.
The industrial revolution made intentional planetary change a reality. Sapien life induced global changes after the industrial revolution, though this became apparent only a bit later. Sapiens has already set foot on planetary bodies outside their home planet.
From unintended damaging interventions, it is only a step away from intentional targeted planet-wide changes. We can call it the Terra Sapiens, the Wise Earth.
Terra Sapiens is also only a step away from Cosmo Sapiens, the Wise Universe.
Milankovič cycles were first described by a Serbian geophysicist and astronomer Milutin Milanković in the 1920s. These periods are due to the eccentricity of the planetary orbit, the axial tilt, and the precession and they have a profound significance on how the earth evolved. The eccentricity causes 400,000 and 100,000-year cycles, the axial tilt 41,000-year cycles and the precession about 26,000-year cycles. These three cycles combine to affect the amount of solar heat that’s incident on the Earth’s surface and subsequently influence its climatic patterns.
The 26,000-year cycle (or 25,920 to be exact) could be perhaps one of the earliest cosmic mysteries cracked by human beings. Some believe that this was known to Mesopotamian and Indian civilisations in the Neolithic ages, around 5000 - 4000 B.C. It was estimated to be 25,920 years by the proto-scientists in the dawn of history, even before written languages were born.
The sexagesimal, or base-60, the numeral system of the near-east arose because 25,920 is divisible by 60. Therefore 432, which is 25,920 divided by 60 is a sacred number for most ancient civilisations. This 'grand year' of 25,920 solar years was also responsible for the cyclic nature of time adopted all ancient religions in Mesopotamia, India and Egypt. One “Mahā-yuga” of Hindu calendar is 4.32 million years, and a “Kalpa" is a period of 4.32 billion years.
Milankovitch cycles are now recognised significant to studies on palaeoclimatology and evolution of life. Appearance and demise of species are related to climatic events coinciding with these long cycles. It may have a role on how life first appeared on earth, how it became more and more complicated and ultimately to give rise to a particular species, the Homo Sapiens. Moreover, the Sapiens apparently have the ability to control these cycles if they decide to do so.
The idea of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and the atmosphere was well understood for long. However, the idea that the controlling forces rise in the biosphere was the contribution of Vladimir Vernadsky, the Ukrainian geochemist. In his 1926 book, “The Biosphere”, he argued it was the life that shapes the earth.
Vernadsky did not stop there. He talked about the “noösphere”, the sphere of human thought. He said that noösphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the development of human cognition fundamentally changes the biosphere. Going one step further, noösphere or another derivative arising from it may fundamentally change this planet or the cosmos itself.
However, how did life on earth become such a formidable force? Where did it all this start?
Going by the whatever evidence we have, we are quite lonely. Gaia hypothesis, proposed in the 1970s by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, has steadily marched on to become Gaia theory or Gaia principle. Lovelock’s early career was in alien life exploration. He thought that life anywhere could be readily detected by the effects it makes, especially in the atmosphere. That later got him into Martian climate studies.
"Lynn Margulis’s name is as synonymous with symbiosis as Charles Darwin's is with evolution,” said historian Jan Sapp. She described the endosymbiosis theory that made complex life or eukaryotes possible. Eukaryotes, which includes humans like us, came into being after a bacteria made an archaeon its home. That bacteria continues to exist as mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, within all complex life. The chance encounter of a bacteria and an archaeon was also an incredibly rare event, having happened only once. Complex life is not easy to get.
Gaia hypothesis prophesied that life in a planet cannot exist in niches. It has to be a planet-wide phenomenon. However, it has to start somewhere. Opinions on where this spot could be belong to the realm of speculation. The most favoured one used to be a warm pond somewhere on the surface of the earth, where lightning could strike. Warm pond hypothesis has started falling out of favour today.
Non-oxygenated early earth atmosphere had a surface bathed in ultra-violet radiations. No life can exist on a warm pond on the surface of the earth. If fact it was only very late in history, about 400 million years that life appeared on land. For the most of its existence, life hid in the deepest depths of oceans, where no light could penetrate.
Plate tectonics is today evoked to explain all the geological process. Plate tectonics constantly keeps a planet a pulsating hub of constant movements. Volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are all the effects of plate movements. Plate tectonics also gives rise to hydrothermal vents that rise from ocean floors. Discovery recently of alkaline hydrothermal vents like the “Lost City” changed our perception.
In the early days of earth, in the absence of oxygen, alkaline vents are proposed to have acted as electrochemical flow reactors. Here alkaline fluids saturated in H2 mixed with relatively acidic ocean waters rich in CO2, through a labyrinth of interconnected micropores available in the deep-sea vents. The difference in pH across thin barriers of the vent walls produced natural proton gradients. The flow of electrons is electricity, the flow of proton, proticity.
Life is nothing but proticity. The powerhouse of the cell, mitochondria, produces proticity.
Carbon fixation was possible thanks to proticity. Early single-celled organisms used their cell membranes to generate a proton flow that can produce hydrocarbon compounds. However, there is a limit to the amount of ‘skin’ one could have. This constraint disappeared when life invented mitochondria.
Another revolution that happened some time later was the appearance of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria were able to produce energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis was one of the first disasters to befall the earth. Oxygen, a deadly poison to most other life, was the waste product of photosynthesis. Most of life disappeared in this holocaust.
New oxygen tolerant forms slowly took over and reestablished life back on the desolate planet. Life is a tough bitch. The greening of the globe also started in a small way. For most of the land to become green, it took very long time more, after the oxygen in the atmosphere increased, and a protective ozone layer appeared. Ozone blocked the deadly ultra-violet radiations. Life surfaced from dark depths and hesitantly moved on to land. Land-based plants appeared in a big way only some four hundred million years ago.
Life has unintentionally changed the global physical environment. However, intentional shifts on a global scale belonged to a quite insignificant and weak species that came later.
We know them as Homo Sapiens. However, they were only one among a score or more of human species that could walk and talk.
Human evolution has been pushed and pulled by the motions of the planets. Milankovič cycles saw the birth and death of species. They also heralded numerous ice ages of the past. The last glacial period started about 110,000 years ago and ended 12,000 years ago.
Humans, including Homo Sapiens, retreated to caves when ice age started. When it ended 12,000 years back only one species remained - Homo Sapiens. All other cousins were long gone.
Surviving Sapiens emerged stronger and different. They stopped behaving like any other animal species. They started having beliefs and religions. They began having complex languages and philosophical debates. They started agriculture revolution, with which began the first intentional planetary-scale changes.
Sea level stabilised six to seven thousand years ago. The first large coastal settlements began emerging. Great civilisations developed in Iraq, Egypt and India.
A new era, the age of humans, the Anthropocene emerged. It was a misnomer. No other human species, save the Sapiens remained by now. So it is not the Human era, but a Sapien era that was inaugurated.
The Sapien era saw how a single insignificant species could become the masters of a planet and start to decide how the physical environment and biosphere should behave. Ice ages came in tandem with Milankovič cycles in the past. Sapiens ingenuity made nuclear winter a possibility.
The industrial revolution made intentional planetary change a reality. Sapien life induced global changes after the industrial revolution, though this became apparent only a bit later. Sapiens has already set foot on planetary bodies outside their home planet.
From unintended damaging interventions, it is only a step away from intentional targeted planet-wide changes. We can call it the Terra Sapiens, the Wise Earth.
Terra Sapiens is also only a step away from Cosmo Sapiens, the Wise Universe.
June 22, 2019
This is a laid-back, philosophical, intriguing approach to the environmental crisis from the point of view of an astrobiologist. This rambling approach will bother some people, including me, eager to find out where he's taking us. It could be cut by a third or maybe even a half (its length is 479 pages). But if you don't mind the length --- and he does write well --- consider this a four-star review.
An astrobiologist on the environment? What's this all about? As someone who studies the possibility of life on other worlds, the author wants to turn these skills --- or perhaps I might say reflexes --- towards our own world. Beginning by looking simultaneously at climate change and the possibility of mass extinction through a meteorite strike, he moves quickly on to other topics, somehow getting from the "Gaia" hypothesis, to climate change, to deliberate conscious actions to save the planet, to extra-terrestrial intelligence. Quite a transition!
The "Gaia" hypothesis, the possibility and perhaps the necessity of geo-engineering to meet the climate crisis, leads him to the concept of "planetary transformations of the fourth kind." "Planetary transformations of the fourth kind" seems to be a kind of riff on the 1977 movie from decades ago, "close encounters of the third kind." The first three kinds of planetary transformations are (1) through random catastrophes such as a meteorite strike, (2) through a biological catastrophe such as the end-Permian extinction or the Great Oxygenation Event, (3) through deliberate actions of a species with unintentional effects, such as human-induced climate change. This leads us to the fourth kind of transformation, which is deliberate actions of a species which are intended to create a transformation --- such as geoengineering to reverse climate change.
If we successfully transform the planet in that way, we could survive our current climate crisis. He then deftly moves on to another subject, the question of extra-terrestrial intelligence. So how did we get from the climate crisis to SETI? That was an intriguing transition. He makes an intriguing and interesting point, that it is not clear whether we should attempt to contact extra-terrestrial intelligence, and in fact that we probably shouldn't try this until we know a bit more (and perhaps after we've survived our current environmental crisis). However, we should by all means try to DETECT extra-terrestrial intelligence, we should just be cautious about broadcasting that we're here and we're intelligent. There may be a reason that it's been so difficult to detect other intelligent civilizations, even though logically there must be zillions of them throughout the universe. That reason may be that there is another force or intelligence out there which seeks out an destroys intelligent life (perhaps as a potential threat, or who knows what other reason there might be). We could be inviting our own destruction!
This is an intriguing book. The main downside, which depending on why you're reading this may be an upside, is that he never gets extremely technical here or goes into substantial depth. It's perhaps a bit too laid back for some people. He ruminates on the "meaning of it all" not forcing us into any preconceived mold, but letting the discussion slowly evolve.
The second downside is that in his discussion of the climate crisis, he never mentions livestock which is a key cause of all kinds of environmental problems, including climate issues. Add Grinspoon to the ever-lengthening list of environmental authors clueless about livestock. He IS aware, and casually mentions at one point, that there is much, MUCH more livestock biomass on the planet than there is wild animal biomass. (In fact I believe he specifically mentions that the ratio is about 25 to 1!) So he understands the large animal biomass problem: most of it is US and our livestock, and everything else is being crowded off the planet. But he does not draw the obvious and necessary conclusions from these facts --- our livestock is a key and necessary cause of our environmental crisis.
An astrobiologist on the environment? What's this all about? As someone who studies the possibility of life on other worlds, the author wants to turn these skills --- or perhaps I might say reflexes --- towards our own world. Beginning by looking simultaneously at climate change and the possibility of mass extinction through a meteorite strike, he moves quickly on to other topics, somehow getting from the "Gaia" hypothesis, to climate change, to deliberate conscious actions to save the planet, to extra-terrestrial intelligence. Quite a transition!
The "Gaia" hypothesis, the possibility and perhaps the necessity of geo-engineering to meet the climate crisis, leads him to the concept of "planetary transformations of the fourth kind." "Planetary transformations of the fourth kind" seems to be a kind of riff on the 1977 movie from decades ago, "close encounters of the third kind." The first three kinds of planetary transformations are (1) through random catastrophes such as a meteorite strike, (2) through a biological catastrophe such as the end-Permian extinction or the Great Oxygenation Event, (3) through deliberate actions of a species with unintentional effects, such as human-induced climate change. This leads us to the fourth kind of transformation, which is deliberate actions of a species which are intended to create a transformation --- such as geoengineering to reverse climate change.
If we successfully transform the planet in that way, we could survive our current climate crisis. He then deftly moves on to another subject, the question of extra-terrestrial intelligence. So how did we get from the climate crisis to SETI? That was an intriguing transition. He makes an intriguing and interesting point, that it is not clear whether we should attempt to contact extra-terrestrial intelligence, and in fact that we probably shouldn't try this until we know a bit more (and perhaps after we've survived our current environmental crisis). However, we should by all means try to DETECT extra-terrestrial intelligence, we should just be cautious about broadcasting that we're here and we're intelligent. There may be a reason that it's been so difficult to detect other intelligent civilizations, even though logically there must be zillions of them throughout the universe. That reason may be that there is another force or intelligence out there which seeks out an destroys intelligent life (perhaps as a potential threat, or who knows what other reason there might be). We could be inviting our own destruction!
This is an intriguing book. The main downside, which depending on why you're reading this may be an upside, is that he never gets extremely technical here or goes into substantial depth. It's perhaps a bit too laid back for some people. He ruminates on the "meaning of it all" not forcing us into any preconceived mold, but letting the discussion slowly evolve.
The second downside is that in his discussion of the climate crisis, he never mentions livestock which is a key cause of all kinds of environmental problems, including climate issues. Add Grinspoon to the ever-lengthening list of environmental authors clueless about livestock. He IS aware, and casually mentions at one point, that there is much, MUCH more livestock biomass on the planet than there is wild animal biomass. (In fact I believe he specifically mentions that the ratio is about 25 to 1!) So he understands the large animal biomass problem: most of it is US and our livestock, and everything else is being crowded off the planet. But he does not draw the obvious and necessary conclusions from these facts --- our livestock is a key and necessary cause of our environmental crisis.
December 6, 2016
This is an important and enjoyable read that will entertain and inform. Grinspoon is one of those authors who knows how to engage and provoke the scientific community while not leaving the rest of us behind. He writes with urgency and deep intellectual fluency. And without placing blame, he guides us to understand the most important issue of our our modern day; preserving our earth. With a flare for communicating sophisticated scientific interplanetary investigations, he guides us through the next steps humanity will take to survive future global catastrophes.
November 22, 2019
David Grinspoon takes a perspective on environmental stewardship and our species' place on Earth that is at once new and familiar to any fan of science fiction. He is an astrobiologist, so he talks about the role of life on earth from the perspective of deep time, galactic years.
Grinspoon's main thesis is that we, as a species, are currently (and have been) drastically changing the planet inadvertently, but we need to transition to a phase where we are changing the planet in an intentional, intelligent way. He starts by looking at the way life has shaped the geological and biological evolution of this planet, from the oxygen explosion resulting from a profusion of cyanobacteria 2.4 billion years ago, to the way that life created tons of mineral compounds that wouldn't have existed otherwise, potentially allowing for plate tectonics to persist by lubricating the plates with persistent water and softer rocks like clay, all the way through to humanity's many effects on the earth, atmospheric and otherwise. He looks at how Earth compares and contrasts with other planets in our solar system and explores all of the valuable insights we can learn about Earth from Venus, Mars, Titan, Ganymede, and other terrestrial bodies. He talks about the potential existence of life outside Earth and what how we might think about ourselves with respect to other intelligent life forms. Lastly, he spends a good amount of time walking through what our long-term future might look like and how we would have to change our behavior to survive. Throughout the book, he steps back from politics, policy, and the short (decades to centuries) timeframe we normally think about and zooms out to the geologic, planetary timescale and asks what we need to do to survive as a species for the next million years or more.
Speaking in terms familiar to any sci-fi reader but accessible to everyone, Grinspoon has put together a very well constructed book, explaining how we got here and where we are headed. I think it's an optimistic book. Definitely recommend.
Grinspoon's main thesis is that we, as a species, are currently (and have been) drastically changing the planet inadvertently, but we need to transition to a phase where we are changing the planet in an intentional, intelligent way. He starts by looking at the way life has shaped the geological and biological evolution of this planet, from the oxygen explosion resulting from a profusion of cyanobacteria 2.4 billion years ago, to the way that life created tons of mineral compounds that wouldn't have existed otherwise, potentially allowing for plate tectonics to persist by lubricating the plates with persistent water and softer rocks like clay, all the way through to humanity's many effects on the earth, atmospheric and otherwise. He looks at how Earth compares and contrasts with other planets in our solar system and explores all of the valuable insights we can learn about Earth from Venus, Mars, Titan, Ganymede, and other terrestrial bodies. He talks about the potential existence of life outside Earth and what how we might think about ourselves with respect to other intelligent life forms. Lastly, he spends a good amount of time walking through what our long-term future might look like and how we would have to change our behavior to survive. Throughout the book, he steps back from politics, policy, and the short (decades to centuries) timeframe we normally think about and zooms out to the geologic, planetary timescale and asks what we need to do to survive as a species for the next million years or more.
Speaking in terms familiar to any sci-fi reader but accessible to everyone, Grinspoon has put together a very well constructed book, explaining how we got here and where we are headed. I think it's an optimistic book. Definitely recommend.
February 1, 2017
There has been a lot of buzz in academic circles in recent years about a new epoch that the planet is entering called the "Anthropocene" dominated by the human impact on geology, climate, and biodiversity. Epochs are time periods that typically last a few million years, and there have been dozens and dozens of them. Above epochs are periods, above periods are eras, and above eras are 4 big eons, each lasting hundreds of millions of years.
David Grinspoon says we are entering not just a new epoch, but a new eon of conscious thought. I like that idea. He calls it the "Sapiozoic" or the eon of wisdom. I sort of prefer "Noozoic" or eon of thought because wisdom seems a bit presumptuous, but I get his point that we better get wise to how to run things or it all could come to a quick crashing end.
He tosses around the typical warning about global warming, in his case reinforced by studying other planets like superhot greenhouse Venus and the Saturn moon Titan where methane is liquid and forms rivers and lakes.
He seems to be concerned about what he calls "geoengineering" where we seed the oceans with iron to increase carbon capture from photosynthesis, or put sulfur into the atmosphere like when volcanos erupt and cool off the planet for short periods. I don't quite get the concern. Can't we do limited closed off experiments and figure out what the impact would be and then go from there? He thinks we will get there over the course of centuries and millennia ahead, but he wants to be really, really, really cautious. But haven't we been geoengineering since we started agriculture, or even before that we started setting fires? It's a little late in the game to be worried about it, I would guess.
He also toys around with the notion of a planetwide consciousness arising like an ant colony mind that we are part of without being aware we part of, and then talks about the search for extraterrestial life. Lovelock's Gaia meets E.T. The author would love to meet E.T., but he is afraid that if we phone another star system we might get monsters instead. I'm with him on that one. I think our form of evolved consciousness is probably not going to be repeated closely. I can just see too many other ways for it to occur that result in organisms more likely to treat us as threats. The odds of space angels who just want to be friendly seems pretty remote the more seriously I think about it.
But back on Earth, although the Sapiozoic is supposed to stretch ahead for a few hundred million years, Grinspoon doesn't have much of a clue as to what comes next after we get past the not pooping in our backyard phase. He leaves the genetic engineering djinni in the bottle, only nods at the idea of machine intelligence, and says geoengineering "yeah someday we'll have to".
Then I don't know, and he doesn't know. Maybe some earthly paradise where humans live in green jungle cities with our animal friends. He has one picture from old comic that looks like that. "Here's happy ecoparadise".
I think he is trying to avoid making predictions all together, and perhaps trying to avoid being politically incorrect or seeming like a nut job. It's more like "let's just stop the pooping carbon dioxide and doing other stupid stuff and let the future take care itself" because we have a long, long time to be running things ahead of us. Maybe that's all that the notion of a "Sapiozoic" has to offer in the end.
David Grinspoon says we are entering not just a new epoch, but a new eon of conscious thought. I like that idea. He calls it the "Sapiozoic" or the eon of wisdom. I sort of prefer "Noozoic" or eon of thought because wisdom seems a bit presumptuous, but I get his point that we better get wise to how to run things or it all could come to a quick crashing end.
He tosses around the typical warning about global warming, in his case reinforced by studying other planets like superhot greenhouse Venus and the Saturn moon Titan where methane is liquid and forms rivers and lakes.
He seems to be concerned about what he calls "geoengineering" where we seed the oceans with iron to increase carbon capture from photosynthesis, or put sulfur into the atmosphere like when volcanos erupt and cool off the planet for short periods. I don't quite get the concern. Can't we do limited closed off experiments and figure out what the impact would be and then go from there? He thinks we will get there over the course of centuries and millennia ahead, but he wants to be really, really, really cautious. But haven't we been geoengineering since we started agriculture, or even before that we started setting fires? It's a little late in the game to be worried about it, I would guess.
He also toys around with the notion of a planetwide consciousness arising like an ant colony mind that we are part of without being aware we part of, and then talks about the search for extraterrestial life. Lovelock's Gaia meets E.T. The author would love to meet E.T., but he is afraid that if we phone another star system we might get monsters instead. I'm with him on that one. I think our form of evolved consciousness is probably not going to be repeated closely. I can just see too many other ways for it to occur that result in organisms more likely to treat us as threats. The odds of space angels who just want to be friendly seems pretty remote the more seriously I think about it.
But back on Earth, although the Sapiozoic is supposed to stretch ahead for a few hundred million years, Grinspoon doesn't have much of a clue as to what comes next after we get past the not pooping in our backyard phase. He leaves the genetic engineering djinni in the bottle, only nods at the idea of machine intelligence, and says geoengineering "yeah someday we'll have to".
Then I don't know, and he doesn't know. Maybe some earthly paradise where humans live in green jungle cities with our animal friends. He has one picture from old comic that looks like that. "Here's happy ecoparadise".
I think he is trying to avoid making predictions all together, and perhaps trying to avoid being politically incorrect or seeming like a nut job. It's more like "let's just stop the pooping carbon dioxide and doing other stupid stuff and let the future take care itself" because we have a long, long time to be running things ahead of us. Maybe that's all that the notion of a "Sapiozoic" has to offer in the end.
January 3, 2017
I was provided a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.
I'm torn over this book. There were some great elements. The content is relevant and important, the writing is well-researched, engaging, and informative, and the message is clear: We need to figure out how we're going to drive the run-away vehicle Earth before we crash into whatever's in front of us.
There were also some not-so-great elements. This book is written for the non-technical person. As someone who work in a very technical field, I found that I cared more for the content and the ideas, as opposed to the author's seemingly rambling description of how they met so-and-so, and at what conference this idea was explored, etc. It seemed more like a memoir than a popular science book. I was not expecting a memoir, so I didn't really grab on to some of the stories, simply because I found some of the details unnecessary and uninteresting. This book seemed like 50% memoir, and 50% science. I was expecting at least 85% science, so it missed the mark for me.
If you are a fan of Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, or Malcolm Gladwell, you will enjoy this book. If you want something more to-the-point and technical, like Jared Diamond, Stephen Pinker, or Steven Hawking, you may find some parts of this book a little tedious.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I was introduced to some new perspectives, and it was an easy read. I will likely buy this book because it compliments my current shelf. There were just too many sections where I wandered that I wasn't able to fully immerse myself into the work.
I'm torn over this book. There were some great elements. The content is relevant and important, the writing is well-researched, engaging, and informative, and the message is clear: We need to figure out how we're going to drive the run-away vehicle Earth before we crash into whatever's in front of us.
There were also some not-so-great elements. This book is written for the non-technical person. As someone who work in a very technical field, I found that I cared more for the content and the ideas, as opposed to the author's seemingly rambling description of how they met so-and-so, and at what conference this idea was explored, etc. It seemed more like a memoir than a popular science book. I was not expecting a memoir, so I didn't really grab on to some of the stories, simply because I found some of the details unnecessary and uninteresting. This book seemed like 50% memoir, and 50% science. I was expecting at least 85% science, so it missed the mark for me.
If you are a fan of Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, or Malcolm Gladwell, you will enjoy this book. If you want something more to-the-point and technical, like Jared Diamond, Stephen Pinker, or Steven Hawking, you may find some parts of this book a little tedious.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I was introduced to some new perspectives, and it was an easy read. I will likely buy this book because it compliments my current shelf. There were just too many sections where I wandered that I wasn't able to fully immerse myself into the work.
July 29, 2020
I dragged through this book! He was so long winded and honestly, the first two chapters could have been cut from the book. He spent most of that time talking about how he grew up around the Elite and Who’s Who in the community of planetary scientist, cosmologist, and astronomers. If it was possible to fit Carl Sagan (who he referred to as Uncle Carl) into the material, he would! There was one part where he is talking about a certain scientist and he literally said ‘....this scientist, who’s office was next door to Carl’s.....’ like who cares?? Why is that relevant!? Sagan has nothing to do with the topic being discussed. He also dropped the fact (a few times) about how him and Carl Sagans son grew up together and are good friends ::eye roll:: All this was, was a bunch of name dropping with a handful of decent stuff towards the back of the book. Nothing worth retreading or recommending.
January 6, 2017
Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for a free copy of Earth in Human Hands!
I picked up this book expecting somthing grim... and instead, I finished it with a sense of optimism about the future and the ingenuity of humanity. This is a compelling look at how humans are affecting the planet that we live on. But more than that, it's a look at our place in the universe -- the author does a phenomenal job of "zooming out" and putting our existence in the context of, well, the vastness of space.
From pollution to comet explosions to extraterrestrial life to robots, this book covers the wonders (and horrors) of life, our role in them, and what our future could look like. Well-written, so informative, and highly recommended.
I picked up this book expecting somthing grim... and instead, I finished it with a sense of optimism about the future and the ingenuity of humanity. This is a compelling look at how humans are affecting the planet that we live on. But more than that, it's a look at our place in the universe -- the author does a phenomenal job of "zooming out" and putting our existence in the context of, well, the vastness of space.
From pollution to comet explosions to extraterrestrial life to robots, this book covers the wonders (and horrors) of life, our role in them, and what our future could look like. Well-written, so informative, and highly recommended.
February 20, 2017
Wanted to love it, but found myself identifying whole paragraphs and sections that presented only a slight recast of earlier ideas. Would have been great less about 100 pages.
August 18, 2020
Of all things, a book of science should be thought-provoking, and this book has that in spades. It is not necessarily eye-opening, as it does not attempt to provide litanies of the latest scientific breakthroughs and discoveries. Rather it reminds us of much that we've learned over the past 60, even 100 years, drawing from the broad view of various disciplines, and synthesizes and looks anew at what it means for us as a species and a planet, and what might be ahead. At its core, this book focuses on the establishment of the Anthropocene Epoch and all that entails, and whether we can manage our planetary actions, manage the Earth itself at an inter-generational level, to a point that we/it becomes Terra Sapiens. What subject could be more central to our interest and elucidation?
Not to say that this is a perfect book, mind you. But I don't believe perfection is necessary to earn 5 stars. There is much repetition here, sometimes making you feel that Grinspoon was perhaps wedging into the book separate essays or papers he had delivered in various places which often overlapped and restated what had already been said. And in many ways, he could have leaned more heavily on actual science and data to support, or illustrate, his points. For example, he spends several pages detailing many of the more compelling answers to the Fermi Paradox (including the very compelling Sustainability Solution), but on other matters he glosses over factual details to focus on the philosophical implications. Indeed, it is almost an unfortunate irony that he relates the story of the Byurakan II conference on SETI, where Kardashev did not want to invite scholars from the humanities because they were merely "windbags" and Dyson declared "To hell with philosophy, I came here to learn about observations and instruments", because Grinspoon is himself often guilty of that.
Ultimately, that leads to the biggest thing I feel is missing from this book. It discusses what we should become globally, and it mentions a couple obvious points that we should be addressing - it takes the big philosophical picture of Gaia. But it fails to present any sort of even a cursory blueprint of how to get there. I would be much happier to hear that the scientific community is actually attempting to come up with a tangible, written, Fifty Year Plan for Earth (or maybe 100 years), setting out with specificity for the benefit of the various planetary governments (a) the major actions that we must take (energy system transformation; reforestation; asteroid monitoring; etc.), (b) the directions we should be moving towards (more intensive farming on reduced area; CO2 removal; standardized and expanded system of space exploration; etc.), and (c) the methods by which we can come to international agreement and acceptable of the foregoing and modify the Plan as needed. It could be an open process, subject to constant emendation and updating upon consideration of feedback, alternative ideas, and of course new data. I would have preferred hearing more than a mere contemplative reflection on what we might or should do. I long to hear that we are being proactive, and taking steps to formulate a plan of action to get us there. While I didn't expect this book to be that plan specifically, I was hoping it might point to steps being taken in that direction. Alas, I'm not certain any such concrete steps are occurring at present.
Not to say that this is a perfect book, mind you. But I don't believe perfection is necessary to earn 5 stars. There is much repetition here, sometimes making you feel that Grinspoon was perhaps wedging into the book separate essays or papers he had delivered in various places which often overlapped and restated what had already been said. And in many ways, he could have leaned more heavily on actual science and data to support, or illustrate, his points. For example, he spends several pages detailing many of the more compelling answers to the Fermi Paradox (including the very compelling Sustainability Solution), but on other matters he glosses over factual details to focus on the philosophical implications. Indeed, it is almost an unfortunate irony that he relates the story of the Byurakan II conference on SETI, where Kardashev did not want to invite scholars from the humanities because they were merely "windbags" and Dyson declared "To hell with philosophy, I came here to learn about observations and instruments", because Grinspoon is himself often guilty of that.
Ultimately, that leads to the biggest thing I feel is missing from this book. It discusses what we should become globally, and it mentions a couple obvious points that we should be addressing - it takes the big philosophical picture of Gaia. But it fails to present any sort of even a cursory blueprint of how to get there. I would be much happier to hear that the scientific community is actually attempting to come up with a tangible, written, Fifty Year Plan for Earth (or maybe 100 years), setting out with specificity for the benefit of the various planetary governments (a) the major actions that we must take (energy system transformation; reforestation; asteroid monitoring; etc.), (b) the directions we should be moving towards (more intensive farming on reduced area; CO2 removal; standardized and expanded system of space exploration; etc.), and (c) the methods by which we can come to international agreement and acceptable of the foregoing and modify the Plan as needed. It could be an open process, subject to constant emendation and updating upon consideration of feedback, alternative ideas, and of course new data. I would have preferred hearing more than a mere contemplative reflection on what we might or should do. I long to hear that we are being proactive, and taking steps to formulate a plan of action to get us there. While I didn't expect this book to be that plan specifically, I was hoping it might point to steps being taken in that direction. Alas, I'm not certain any such concrete steps are occurring at present.
July 9, 2017
I saw Grinspoon at The Conference of World Affairs earlier this year. He rambled a lot, mostly about things I like. I bought his book to see if his written thoughts were more organized than his speaking style. There were so many things to like about this book, but I got really bogged down and would have preferred two or three smaller books to this long one. I was hoping that this would be a good place to begin reading about climate change, but it didn't really go too deeply into that.
Grinspoon is an astrobiologist. The field seems like it might be a form of theoretical science or just really deep background on science fiction. In the early chapters, he wrote lovingly about his encounters with Carl Sagan. Sagan was a family friend who inspired Grinspoon in his academic career.
Grinspoon wrote about how we confirm climate models by applying the models to planets other than our own and checking to see if the predictions are correct. He discussed the Gaia hypothesis, and I found the notion of Earth being in a symbiotic relationship with the life that exists on it to be a little odd.
Later, he wrote about SETI and whether or not we should consider METI. If there are aliens out there, should we shout at them and make our presence known? I thought that his discussion about how the probability of finding intelligent life was calculated was interesting. Basically, intelligent life would have to exist for long enough for us to find it and overlap in time with our own civilization. We would not be able to find intelligent life that takes a very long time to develop or life that developed and died before we had a chance to discover it. One way for us to increase our chance of finding other life is to increase our own longevity by maintaining Earth in a way that will sustain humanity.
Throughout the book, he wrote about the Anthropocene, the period of human history affected by human activity. The critique of this is "Have humans been around long enough to be considered on the geologic time scale?" When we talk about the history of the planet, we are talking about millions and billions of years. Humans have just not been around that long. In addition to the Anthropocene epoch (tens of millions of years), he proposed a possible Sapiozoic era (hundreds of millions of years) where the planet is guided by a really smart life form.
Grinspoon is an astrobiologist. The field seems like it might be a form of theoretical science or just really deep background on science fiction. In the early chapters, he wrote lovingly about his encounters with Carl Sagan. Sagan was a family friend who inspired Grinspoon in his academic career.
Grinspoon wrote about how we confirm climate models by applying the models to planets other than our own and checking to see if the predictions are correct. He discussed the Gaia hypothesis, and I found the notion of Earth being in a symbiotic relationship with the life that exists on it to be a little odd.
Later, he wrote about SETI and whether or not we should consider METI. If there are aliens out there, should we shout at them and make our presence known? I thought that his discussion about how the probability of finding intelligent life was calculated was interesting. Basically, intelligent life would have to exist for long enough for us to find it and overlap in time with our own civilization. We would not be able to find intelligent life that takes a very long time to develop or life that developed and died before we had a chance to discover it. One way for us to increase our chance of finding other life is to increase our own longevity by maintaining Earth in a way that will sustain humanity.
Throughout the book, he wrote about the Anthropocene, the period of human history affected by human activity. The critique of this is "Have humans been around long enough to be considered on the geologic time scale?" When we talk about the history of the planet, we are talking about millions and billions of years. Humans have just not been around that long. In addition to the Anthropocene epoch (tens of millions of years), he proposed a possible Sapiozoic era (hundreds of millions of years) where the planet is guided by a really smart life form.
August 11, 2019
I had an amazing time reading this book and I think Grinspoon does a wonderful job at telling this story by garnishing the (would be) dry content of comparative planetology with his stories and experiences with the people in the community.
Overall, the best thing about the book (for me) would be the hopeful message throughout. Grinspoon illustrates the geological history of Earth how we compare to the other planets and draws up analogies that make you think “Hmm, maybe we have a chance”. I particularly enjoyed his views on the photo-Anthropocene and his concept of a mature Anthropocene. It’s very discouraging to look to the news everyday to see more bad news, and it’s so easy to fall into becoming nihilistic and going “It’s all humankind’s fault, we should just all die”. I too, was susceptible to these thoughts, but the last chapter of the book really brought me around.
Overall, I found the book to be incredibly informative. It covered very interesting topics from climate change, to astronomy, to anthropology, and even SETI. It was a very manageable read without making you feel bogged down with too much information (although a few chapters were about 70 pages long), and whilst there have definitely been more progress within the last 3 years (as of 2019 while I’m writing this, 3 years after the book was published), I think the book still provides a very solid message that would help us take more responsibility for our own planetary behaviour.
Overall, the best thing about the book (for me) would be the hopeful message throughout. Grinspoon illustrates the geological history of Earth how we compare to the other planets and draws up analogies that make you think “Hmm, maybe we have a chance”. I particularly enjoyed his views on the photo-Anthropocene and his concept of a mature Anthropocene. It’s very discouraging to look to the news everyday to see more bad news, and it’s so easy to fall into becoming nihilistic and going “It’s all humankind’s fault, we should just all die”. I too, was susceptible to these thoughts, but the last chapter of the book really brought me around.
Overall, I found the book to be incredibly informative. It covered very interesting topics from climate change, to astronomy, to anthropology, and even SETI. It was a very manageable read without making you feel bogged down with too much information (although a few chapters were about 70 pages long), and whilst there have definitely been more progress within the last 3 years (as of 2019 while I’m writing this, 3 years after the book was published), I think the book still provides a very solid message that would help us take more responsibility for our own planetary behaviour.
May 19, 2017
There is an awful lot to be learned from reading this book, and while I know the author, and would have read it in any case, I am highly recommending it to people who have not read it.
The thing that I like most about it is something that is also true of the author in general. It is optimistic. The evidence for climate change is overwhelming and long standing. It goes back literally a century or more. So he doesn't engage with those who want to go down that rabbit hole. It is all about how to address where we are and how to move forward, and he does this from the viewpoint of a planetary scientist.
I liked the perspective of climate on planets over the time that we can study them, and the valuable information that we have from space exploration. He and I have literally grown up in the age of being able to get out into the universe to explore it and not just sit here at home. So that was a cool perspective, full of knowledge that I did not possess.
So take some time and learn a bit about what the future might hold for our beautiful home planet.
The thing that I like most about it is something that is also true of the author in general. It is optimistic. The evidence for climate change is overwhelming and long standing. It goes back literally a century or more. So he doesn't engage with those who want to go down that rabbit hole. It is all about how to address where we are and how to move forward, and he does this from the viewpoint of a planetary scientist.
I liked the perspective of climate on planets over the time that we can study them, and the valuable information that we have from space exploration. He and I have literally grown up in the age of being able to get out into the universe to explore it and not just sit here at home. So that was a cool perspective, full of knowledge that I did not possess.
So take some time and learn a bit about what the future might hold for our beautiful home planet.
November 3, 2020
An accesible an informative read for anyone.
Grinspoon offers a brief history of climate change and highlights its current issues. He discusses possible solutions and long-term strategies that might result in a more habitable planet for both current and future generations. By explaining the issues we're currently facing from various credible scientific perspectives, as well as providing historical context which stresses the incredible adaptive ability of the human species, he leaves the reader with a clearer understanding than they would otherwise have.
He delves into the role scientists play in space exploration, and how it has better shaped our understanding of our own planet, as well as piqued our curiosity with regards to the search for extraterrestrial life, and makes a compelling case for why it's got implications for modern science (especially with regards to human ingenuity) beyond just some sci-fi fantasy.
Grinspoon offers a brief history of climate change and highlights its current issues. He discusses possible solutions and long-term strategies that might result in a more habitable planet for both current and future generations. By explaining the issues we're currently facing from various credible scientific perspectives, as well as providing historical context which stresses the incredible adaptive ability of the human species, he leaves the reader with a clearer understanding than they would otherwise have.
He delves into the role scientists play in space exploration, and how it has better shaped our understanding of our own planet, as well as piqued our curiosity with regards to the search for extraterrestrial life, and makes a compelling case for why it's got implications for modern science (especially with regards to human ingenuity) beyond just some sci-fi fantasy.
June 1, 2019
Dr. David Grinspoon - aka Dr. Funkyspoon, is an astronomer and is an expert expositor of planetary astronomy. As a child, Dr. Carl Sagan was one of many influences upon his developing intellect. It can be said that Dr. Grinspoon is an intellectual Godchild of Dr. Sagan's. Dr. Sagan became his friend and and ultimately his Ph.D mentor.
The book is filled with choice anecdotes on how we can take charge of the 'earth' and reverse the deadly effects of global climate change. Mr. Grinspoon is an optimist and rightfully so. However, he realistically and correctly informs that we have we still have chance to save this planet for our children.
Dr. Funkyspoon is a true science exposit0r -- he leaves us wondering how we could save ourselves as we weave our way from one scenario to another. A worthy read.
The book is filled with choice anecdotes on how we can take charge of the 'earth' and reverse the deadly effects of global climate change. Mr. Grinspoon is an optimist and rightfully so. However, he realistically and correctly informs that we have we still have chance to save this planet for our children.
Dr. Funkyspoon is a true science exposit0r -- he leaves us wondering how we could save ourselves as we weave our way from one scenario to another. A worthy read.
December 20, 2020
1. A planetary scientist tells us why our earth is dangerous to inhabit for a loooong time. It has already faced 5 massive extinctions.
2. Chances of a comet ☄️ hitting the earth is more unpredictable than an asteroid. We don’t have current technology to handle it. (Not the nuclear option like Hollywood 😂).
3. 3 exoplanets we can choose to terraform. Venus, Mars and titan (saturn’s moon).
4. For the former we need to escape the co2 or block sun. The latter 2 we need to create more CO2 to warm for water.
5. I have never read Cyanobacteria role better explained anywhere than here.
6. Saddest part: the plastics we throw in ocean are now forming plastic rocks that can last for millions of years. Perhaps we can rectify our mistake as we did with CCL4 destruction of ozone layer (it should be rectified by 2050).
2. Chances of a comet ☄️ hitting the earth is more unpredictable than an asteroid. We don’t have current technology to handle it. (Not the nuclear option like Hollywood 😂).
3. 3 exoplanets we can choose to terraform. Venus, Mars and titan (saturn’s moon).
4. For the former we need to escape the co2 or block sun. The latter 2 we need to create more CO2 to warm for water.
5. I have never read Cyanobacteria role better explained anywhere than here.
6. Saddest part: the plastics we throw in ocean are now forming plastic rocks that can last for millions of years. Perhaps we can rectify our mistake as we did with CCL4 destruction of ozone layer (it should be rectified by 2050).
September 13, 2018
A wide-ranging look at the major challenges that will shape the future of the earth and life as we know it, from climate change to possible contact with extraterrestrials. Grinspoon manages to take a solid look at the issues while still maintaining his overall optimism and hope about the future and potential of humanity. I don't know if I share his optimism, but this book sure made a good case for it! He takes a close look at humanity's role in the scheme of the cosmos, and also delves into how much we have impacted the earth itself in such a small amount of time. I do think the book could have been shorter than 500 pages, as some sections dragged on a bit longer than necessary. But I'm still glad that I read it, and it gave me a lot to think about.
July 24, 2018
This is the most stimulating book I’ve read in some time; the one I will now unsolicitedly hand out like some astrobiologist Johnny Appleseed. Grinspoon’s discussion of the Anthropocene and our moment at the Great Filter is outstanding. Basically, all planetary civilizations if they exist will come to a point in their adolescence where they will either kill themselves with their technology or develop the institutions to become interplanetary. Climate change (and a few other choice challenges) is humanity’s chance to rise to the occasion... or not. This perspective is without a doubt the most mature writing I’ve seen on geoengineering.
April 28, 2019
A real curate's egg. Where Grinspoon writes about what he knows: planetary cosmology, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, it's great. Elsewhere - while the writing remains as engaging - he slips into the sort of hubris and imbalance that marks the worst of ecomodernists. For instance, his adoption of the 'long-view' leads to - imo - foolish and ill-considered recommendations about developing geoengineering today (to paraphrase, humans will need to geoengineer to prevent another ice age, so lets get started ...). Worth the read, but treat with a large pinch of salt
August 6, 2017
An interesting discourse on whether the human species can transcend our usual diverse squabbling in order to address controlling the planet's environment, to address the climate change crisis and the impact of our growing population. Grinspoon is a bit too fond of long discourses on scientific developments, and is a bit repetitious. This gave a good perspective on the current work in the field, and how explorations in astronomy and physics are informing our views of changes in our own Earth.
May 23, 2020
Grinspoon does a really good job summarizing where our species has to go in order to have a long term future on this planet. Certain parts of this book were excellent at getting the reader to think about the future and collective planetary thinking. Unfortunately other times the book can be very repetitive and could likely be condensed into about half the size. Still worth reading. Interesting perspective from a planetary biologist!
January 23, 2021
Great overview and exploration of the Anthropocene from the perspective of planetary science/exobiology. The book also has a really great personal voice that takes you through connections to a range of scientists and thinkers. Ultimately the book offers a context for thinking about the potential role for humanity to play in becoming active stewards in support of helping ensure the future of itself and other life on the earth. Highly recommend!
February 8, 2024
This is an OK book. I like it that the author is not pessimist; and he offers a balanced views on the challenges that await humanity. He also sums not bad various approaches and views, and give some interesting historical anecdotes.
However, sometimes he dwells too much on a point. Repeats things far too often. And the chapters about aliens and AI feel like fillers, like he ran out of things that he likes and knows, but still had to write more. Hence 3 stars.
However, sometimes he dwells too much on a point. Repeats things far too often. And the chapters about aliens and AI feel like fillers, like he ran out of things that he likes and knows, but still had to write more. Hence 3 stars.
January 21, 2020
I am torn on this book; it would be more accurate to say that some chapters are 2's(name dropping, boring, superficial) and some are 5's (want to share with everyone, changed the way I think about the world, myself, and humanity).
The idea of looking at our current situation from the lens of deep time to give context and hope for our current environmental crisis (and other existential crisis).
The idea of looking at our current situation from the lens of deep time to give context and hope for our current environmental crisis (and other existential crisis).
May 10, 2017
This book required me to take my time. I appreciate the positive approach he has taken to climate change and I loved the perspective. This is worth the time and effort. He managed to co.bine several topics that I'm passionate about into a single experience and I'm so glad I own this book.
July 23, 2017
I listened to David's book on the drive back and forth to work which he reads himself. I enjoyed it since David is an outstanding scientist, a great friend, and has some pretty spectacular things happen to him which he folds in as part of the history of planetary science. I love the history too!
March 9, 2019
This was a great read. There were so many powerful ideas crammed into it, though it certainly could have been written with a bit less anecdotes about who is who and did what etc
But all in all a very hopeful message for humanity.
But all in all a very hopeful message for humanity.
Shelved as 'i-gave-up-on'
June 22, 2020This is not something you read out of boredom. Unfortunately, I did the otherwise and my interest for the book started to dwindle. So I guess I have to give up on it. I've tried to love it though but the repetitive points annoyed me:(
May 9, 2017
Somewhat repetitious, certainly not a compelling narrative style. OK, at best.
August 31, 2017
Some great thoughts that could have been presented more concisely with less "rambling."
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