Humans on Earth

Filipe Duarte Santos is professor of physics and environmental sciences at the University of Lisbon. He has been visiting professor or visiting researcher at the universities of Oxford, Surrey, Munich (LMU), Vrije (Amsterdam), North Carolina (Chapel Hill), Wisconsin (Madison), and Indiana, among others. He is presently review editor of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, Vice-Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 2008-2009 and elected for 2012-2013, and Director of the Ibero-American Program CYTED for Science, Technology, and Development in the field of Sustainable Development, Ecosystems, and Global Change.

• 1. Science and Technology. From the Origins up to the Twenty-First Century.- 2. A Very Brief History of the Universe, Earth,  and Life.- 3. The Contemporary Situation.- 4. The Future.- 5. Human Development and Environmental Discourses.

From the reviews: "Professor Filipe Duarte Santos, a physicist and scholar of environmental sciences at the University of Lisbon, provides a sweeping, thoughtful view of the role of humans in shaping our modern world. Beginning with a short history of the universe, he crafts an easily accessible narrative, weaving together an exploration of the laws of physics, an examination of human evolution, and an illuminating discussion of the roles played by art, religion, science, and technology." From the Foreword by Paul Epstein, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School "In Humans on Earth, Santos ... begins with an exploration of the past to look at future risks, uncertainties, and challenges for Homo sapiens. ... The entire book is an overview that briefly touches on many themes, ranging from Hinduism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to biodiversity and anthropogenic change, to describe human evolution. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates and general readers." (W. K. Bauchspies, Choice, Vol. 49 (11), July, 2012)