Contents

Dedication, Preface, Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I: How the World Works

Chapter 1 Energy Balance Sheets

Chapter 2 Circulation systems

Chapter 3 The essence of life

Chapter 4 Cosmic setting: dancing to ancient tunes

Part I Further Reading

PART II: Peering into Time

Chapter 5 Managing time

Chapter 6 Continents adrift

Chapter 7 The surface of events

Chapter 8 Life, rock and air

Part II Further Reading

PART III: Star Stuff

Chapter 9 Alchemy in stars

Chapter 10 Graveyard for asteroids and comets

Chapter 11 Landscape for life

Part III Further Reading

PART IV: ‘A Warm Little Pond’ ?

Chapter 12: What life is all about

Chapter 13 Genesis: a secular version

Chapter 14 Life’s tender years

Part IV Further Reading

PART V: Climate, Mantle and Life

Chapter 15 Earth’s exhaust fumes

Chapter 16 How continents shape climate

Chapter 17 Icehouse and ‘greenhouse’ worlds

Part V Further Reading

Part VI Life’s Ups and Downs

Chapter 18 Life becomes complicated

Chapter 19 Armageddon revisited

Chapter 20 Reaching for new horizons

Part VI Further Reading

Part VII: The People’s Planet

Chapter 21  The ages of ice

Chapter 22 The human record

Chapter 23 Humans: the emergence of the latest model

Chapter 24 All the world’s a commodity

Part VII Further Reading

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