Brief History of Earth

<p><strong>Harvard's acclaimed geologist charts Earth's history in accessible style (AP)</strong></p><p><strong>A sublime chronicle of our planet. -<em>Booklist </em> STARRED review</strong></p><p>How well do you know the ground beneath your feet? </p><p>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. </p><p>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 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 <em>A Brief History of Earth</em> is an indispensable look at where we've been and where we're going.</p><p><strong>Features original illustrations depicting Earth history and nearly 50 figures (maps tables photographs graphs).</strong></p>