A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters

Harvard’s acclaimed geologist “charts Earth’s history in accessible style” (AP)

“A sublime chronicle of our planet. –Booklist, STARRED review

How well do you know the ground beneath your feet?

Odds are, where you’re standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering sheet of ice, rocked by a nearby meteor strike, or perhaps choked by poison gases, drowned beneath ocean, perched atop a mountain range, or roamed by fearsome monsters. Probably most or even all of the above.

The story of our home planet and the organisms spread across its surface is far more spectacular than any Hollywood blockbuster, filled with enough plot twists to rival a bestselling thriller. But only recently have we begun to piece together the whole mystery of our planet's past into a coherent narrative. Drawing on his decades of field research and up-to-the-minute understanding of the latest science, renowned geologist Andrew H. Knoll delivers a rigorous yet accessible biography of Earth, charting our home planet's epic 4.6 billion-year story. Placing twenty first-century climate change in deep context, A Brief History of Earth is an indispensable look at where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Features original illustrations depicting Earth history and nearly 50 figures (maps, tables, photographs, graphs).

This essential work of popular science explains:

Deep Earth History: Follow the epic 4.6-billion-year story of our planet, from roiling seas of lava to the age of fearsome monsters. Accessible Science Writing: Understand the complex forces that shaped our world through a narrative filled with enough plot twists to rival a bestselling thriller. Geological Perspective: See how the ground beneath your feet was once crushed by ice, drowned beneath oceans, or perched atop mountain ranges. Climate Change in Context: Grasp the significance of twenty-first-century climate change by placing it within the grand narrative of Earth’s past and future.