The history of Earth and the organisms it sustains is far more magnificent than any Hollywood blockbuster, filled with twists worthy of a bestseller thriller. Over four billion years ago, a small planet was formed from the accumulation of rocky debris orbiting a relatively young star. In its early years, Earth lived on the edge of catastrophe, bombarded by comets and meteorites, while turbulent magma oceans covered the surface and toxic gases choked the atmosphere. Over time, however, the planet began to cool. Continents formed only to be shattered and later collide, creating impressive mountain ranges, most of which have been eroded over time. Understanding Earth's history helps us realize how not only the mountains, oceans, trees, and animals around us were created, but also gold, diamonds, coal, oil, and even the very air we breathe.

And, in this way, the planet's history provides us with the necessary context to understand how human activities are transforming the world in the twenty-first century. For most of its history, our home was inhospitable to humans, and one of the most enduring lessons geology teaches us is how fleeting, fragile, and precious our current moment is. Today, headlines often seem straight out of the Apocalypse of John: unprecedented fires in California, the Amazon in flames; record high temperatures in Alaska and accelerating melting of glaciers in Greenland; giant hurricanes sweeping through the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast; and "century" floods inundating Midwestern U.S. states more and more frequently.