Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet Reprint Edition

by
Robert M. Hazen (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Robert M. Hazen Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Robert M. Hazen (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 136 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0143123644
ISBN-10: 0143123645
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$2.19 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$12.78 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
More Buying Choices
59 New from $4.33 43 Used from $2.19
102 used & new from $2.19
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Amazon Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

Solar System: A Visual Exploration of the Planets, Moons, and Other Heavenly Bodies that Orbit Our Sun by Marcus Chown
SOLAR SYSTEM and more great science books
Now in paperback, Solar System is the instant, international bestseller and one of the titles in Black Dog & Leventhal's popular science series. Learn more | See related books
$12.78 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently Bought Together

  • The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet
  • +
  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
  • +
  • Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Total price: $34.04
Buy the selected items together
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (July 30, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143123645
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143123644
  • Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsHow our home was built
By Curious Wavefunction TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on July 30, 2012
Format: Hardcover
In this excellent volume, Robert Hazen tells us the story of how earth came to be, a real story that is grander than any creation myth. He starts with the Big Bang and then leads us through the formation of stars, galaxies, the solar system and finally to the evolution of earth. Hazen is a geologist by training so he especially excels in recounting the the formation of the planet from minerals and elements and their subsequent differentiation into the core, magma and crust that define the structure of our planet.

But this is where the story is just getting warmed up. The upheavals that earth faced during the next 4.5 billion years have been tremendous and Hazen documents them exceedingly well. Earth has seen huge transitions that crucially contributed to the evolution and extinction of life. These included massive tectonic shifts, the famous continental drifts, intense periodic cycles of thawing and freezing, the waxing and waning of oxygen levels in the atmosphere and the constant churning and renewing of earth's raw materials through volcanic, oceanic and tectonic activity. The magnitude of these events is illustrated for instance by the fact that at one point in time the Appalachians were submerged in the ocean. The movement of entire continents across thousands of miles, the rise and fall of imposing mountain ranges and the obliteration of thousands of species and landscapes by the impact of meteorites is almost impossible to imagine. But the evidence is incontrovertible.

The real strength of the book is in describing the influence of this grand geological drama on the evolution of life, and how this evolution would have been impossible without the crucial interplay between geology and biology.Read more ›
5 Comments 59 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat popular overview of a huge subject, with a twist.
By the not-so-reverend bob on October 22, 2012
Format: Hardcover
This has to be about the most coherent and readable book about the formation of our planet that I have read. It made the processes that formed Earth make sense in ways that no other book has (and I've read some good ones). But it also reads like a family album, or the biography of a beloved friend. For those reasons alone I recommend it.

The bonus of the book (and the area most likely up for debate) is the fresh viewpoint that the author brings to the symbiotic connection between biological life and geology. We all understand that without the basic elements that were gathered from the cosmos by the Earth, life could not have begun. But it also appears that it was life itself that then began to alter "lifeless" geology, mainly in the form of minerals that then became the further building blocks of ever-evolving life forms.

Life exists in many forms and in many places on and in the earth. We tend to think of the things that live and crawl on the surface, or swim in the sea, but the roots of living plants facilitate chemical reactions in rocks and soil to a degree that their actions must be considered a significant shaper of landscape -- more so than erosion by wind and rain.

It is a way to see our planet that has an elegant and fascinating complexity to it. Our life story is not one of life simply springing up on a watery planet that just happened to be the right distance from an energy-supplying sun, but of an interplay between chemistry, environment, time and chance that has played out over and over and over again through extinctions and near extinctions, changes in atmosphere and the chemical composition of the oceans as well as the surface of the planet to arrive at the biologically-rich world that we know today.Read more ›
1 Comment 25 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsThe fluid Earth
By Ryan on October 12, 2013
Format: Audible Audio Edition
I enjoyed this book. Robert Hazen starts from the beginning and describes how the Earth formed from starstuff, its crust and minerals crystallizing from cooling magma. He covers the planet's storied relationship with its moon, the importance of tectonic plates, the formation of the seas, and the magnetosphere. We learn about the chemistry that provided a basis for proto-life-as-we-know-it, and, eventually, the real deal. We learn about the complex feedback loops that govern the climate system, the revelation that the entire planet may have once been covered in ice.

Hazen emphasizes the interdependence of the planet's features and life itself: "geology influences life and life influences life". Eons of metabolizing, respiring, and dying plants and animals have unquestionable altered the features and chemical makeup of the Earth's surface, and, more importantly, the climate. Hazen also takes some time to identify instances of past natural climate change, triggered by imperfections in the Earth's rotation, changes in the sun, volcanic activity, feedback loops caused by clouds/ocean/ice, and the emissions of the biosphere. Deniers of man-made climate change often refer to such events (usually with limited understanding of what caused them) to minimize the idea that human activity makes any difference, but Hazen points to the past as evidence that the equilibrium is delicate and *can* be changed, sometimes with catastrophic consequences for the ecosystem.

Finally, I've often wondered how scientists *know* about things that happened millions or billions of years ago -- I mean, I was aware that they had methods, but I couldn't have explained them in much depth. Well, this book provides some good answers.

A worthwhile read. Informative and sweeping without being too dense.
Comment 16 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsMy favorite so far.....

This is one of the best books I've ever read on the Earth's origin and evolution. It is so well organized with clear explanations that aren't "dumbed down" yet can be... Read more

Published 19 days ago by R. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 starsLoved McPhee's book and want an update?

Excellent update to John McPhee's Annals From a Former World.

Published 21 days ago by J. Kruse
4.0 out of 5 starsSeemed like an open minded scientist for most of the book ...

Presents Geology and Mineralogy from a refreshing new perspective. Seemed like an open minded scientist for most of the book until he wanders off into the quicksand of global... Read more

Published 22 days ago by Lloyd Long
5.0 out of 5 starsGood read, lots of information for a non science

Good read , lots of information for a non science type

Published 27 days ago by David A. Patt
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great read and certainly gets a person thinking!!!!!

Published 1 month ago by cgilber
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

A slow read

Published 1 month ago by mike karsnak
5.0 out of 5 starseasy to read and very adept at explaining things at ...

This book is well written, easy to read and very adept at explaining things at a level that tells a story, but doesn't get bogged down in details that would make a reader leave and... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsEasy to read and comprehend

Easy to read and comprehend. Makes his expressed thoughts visual. Fascinating history of the Earth with many theories told and explained.
A wonderful (keeper) book!

Published 1 month ago by Michael E.
4.0 out of 5 starsTerrific and amazing.

Covers a highly ambitious topic, and presents an amazing story. The attractiveness/effectiveness of the book would be greatly enhanced if it contained illustrations of the complex... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Robert Leicester
5.0 out of 5 starsFits the bill

Wonderfully epic and well written!

Published 3 months ago by Christopher

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
This item: The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.



Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: granite countertops bathroom, sea of variables, weathering and erosion