Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 173) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
1. How the present reveals the past -- The diversity of life today -- Life's relationship with the environment -- Processes which change environments over time -- Earth, a dynamic system in constant flux -- Environments today as potential sites of fossilization -- Our view of the geological past -- 2. Ice Age (0-1.8 million years ago) -- The present as a warm interglacial -- The discovery of the Ice Age -- Evidence of life during the Ice Age -- Human prehistory -- The environmental impact of the Ice Age -- 3. Life's third age (1.8-65 million years ago) -- Discovering the ancient testimony of rocks -- Our oldest human relatives -- A world dominated by grasses, insects, and mammals -- Opening and closing oceans -- Building and destroying mountains -- 4. Life's Middle Age (65-205 million years ago) -- Evolution -- The discovery of the sea dragons -- The discovery of the dinosaurs -- Life in the shadow of the dinosaurs -- Windows on the past in China -- 5. Life's extinction events -- The discovery of extinction events -- Extraterrestrial events -- Volcanism and the climate change -- Ice ages -- Changing sea levels -- 6. Life's Early Age (205-545 million years ago) -- The discovery of deep time -- Fossil fuels fire the Industrial Revolution -- Climate change and shifting continents -- The move from sea to land -- Putting the backbone into life -- 7. Life's beginnings (545-4000 million years ago) -- The discovery of the Precambrian -- The search for the oldest fossils -- Discovering the origin of life -- The trouble with fossils -- 8. Earth's beginnings (4000-4600 million years ago) -- Discovering the age of the Earth -- The rock record of Earth's origin -- 9. The Earth's future -- Climate change -- Shifting continents -- A material world -- A dangerous wold -- Conclusion -- Glossary.
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