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. ( )

Astrobiologist Grinspoon here concentrates his attention on Earth, a planet being affected by _Homo sapiens_ in a way that has so far been anything but sapient. He accepts as useful and scientific the concepts of Gaia and the Anthropocene epoch (and even a Sapiezoic Eon). He is cautious about geoengineering, prefers restrained ecomodernism to traditional conservationism, and approves of SETI but is cautious about active SETI. I wonder if his insistent optimism about Earth's future would have been lessened by foreknowledge of Donald Trump's perniciously retrogressive policies on energy and climate.