The Story of Earth - Robert M. Hazen

The Story of Earth

By Robert M. Hazen

  • Release Date: 2012-04-26
  • Genre: Geology
Score: 4
4
From 31 Ratings

Description

Hailed by The New York Times for writing “with wonderful clarity about science . . . that effortlessly teaches as it zips along,” nationally bestselling author Robert M. Hazen offers a radical new approach to Earth history in this intertwined tale of the planet’s living and nonliving spheres. With an astrobiologist’s imagination, a historian’s perspective, and a naturalist’s eye, Hazen calls upon twenty-first-century discoveries that have revolutionized geology and enabled scientists to envision Earth’s many iterations in vivid detail—from the mile-high lava tides of its infancy to the early organisms responsible for more than two-thirds of the mineral varieties beneath our feet. Lucid, controversial, and on the cutting edge of its field, The Story of Earth is popular science of the highest order.

"A sweeping rip-roaring yarn of immense scope, from the birth of the elements in the stars to meditations on the future habitability of our world." -Science

"A fascinating story." -Bill McKibben

Reviews

  • From fireball to now ... And beyond. Wow.

    5
    By yeets
    This is an amazing, readable, interesting, important book. You will gain insights into how a particular fireball from an exploding star happened to cool in a certain way ... And our world came to be. Hazen shows how life didn't just come from the mineral earth, but that the rocks' evolution is always influenced by life. After explaining billions of years of earth history and climate cycles he uses the last section to project what will happen in the future. His prognosis: the planet doesn't need to be saved. It will go on, but we are surely tipping earth's climate to a point where we will destroy ourselves, and bring many species down with us. The story of earth will continue, just not with us. Highly recommended book.