The Story of Earth

The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet

By: Robert M. Hazen

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Earth evolves. From first atom to molecule, mineral to magma, granite crust to single cell to verdant living landscape, ours is a planet constantly in flux. In this radical new approach to Earth’s biography, senior Carnegie Institution researcher and national best-selling author Robert M. Hazen reveals how the co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere - of rocks and living matter - has shaped our planet into the only one of its kind in the Solar System, if not the entire cosmos.

With an astrobiologist’s imagination, a historian’s perspective, and a naturalist’s passion for the ground beneath our feet, Hazen explains how changes on an atomic level translate into dramatic shifts in Earth’s makeup over its 4.567 billion year existence. He calls upon a flurry of recent discoveries to portray our planet’s many iterations in vivid detail - from its fast-rotating infancy when the Sun rose every 5 hours and the Moon filled 250 times more sky than it does now, to its sea-bathed youth, before the first continents arose; from the Great Oxidation Event that turned the land red, to the globe-altering volcanism that may have been the true killer of the dinosaurs. Through Hazen’s theory of “co-evolution,” we learn how reactions between organic molecules and rock crystals may have generated Earth’s first organisms, which in turn are responsible for more than two-thirds of the mineral varieties on the planet - thousands of different kinds of crystals that could not exist in a nonliving world.

The Story of Earth is also the story of the pioneering men and women behind the sciences. Listeners will meet black-market meteorite hawkers of the Sahara Desert, the gun-toting Feds who guarded the Apollo missions’ lunar dust, and the World War II Navy officer whose super-pressurized “bomb” - recycled from military hardware - first simulated the molten rock of Earth’s mantle. As a mentor to a new generation of scientists, Hazen introduces the intrepid young explorers whose dispatches from Earth’s harshest landscapes will revolutionize geology.

Celebrated by The New York Times for writing “with wonderful clarity about science . . . that effortlessly teaches as it zips along,” Hazen proves a brilliant and entertaining guide on this grand tour of our planet inside and out. Lucid, controversial, and intellectually bracing, The Story of Earth is popular science of the highest order.

©2012 Robert M. Hazen (P)2012 Gildan Media, LLC

Critic reviews

“A fascinating new theory on the Earth’s origins written in a sparkling style with many personal touches. . . . Hazen offers startling evidence that ‘Earth’s living and nonliving spheres’ have co-evolved over the past four billion years.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

Narrator spoils the book

Would you be willing to try another one of Walter Dixon’s performances?

No. I'm a geologist and Walter Dixon spoils the book for me with his many mispronunciations of geological terms. One would think he would have researched these words in advance. Examples of botched words include: rhythmites (as in tidal rhythmites), peridotite, and plagioclase. There are many more.

Phenomenal book

I learned so much from this enjoyable work, even though I have worked as an earth science teacher in middle school and at the undergraduate level. We tend to think that the planet needs to be saved and we’re the only ones who can do that. Hazen reminds us that the earth 🌏 will be just fine. Current problems are for us and the plants and animals we share this world with. The time for dealing with that is rapidly vanishing. Earth and life will survive. However we have little idea what its future looks like.

Twist on an old story.

A look at the changing Earth from the minerals up. I really enjoyed the book and narration. Haden does a very nice job at tying the chemistry of the inorganic and organic together.

I love science non-fiction whether physics, biology or cosmology- and now geology finally. If you like geology or collecting rocks, this adds to the story of each rock. If you like learning about how the Earth and life began, this brings more detail into focus on the role minerals played and the effect of life on the minerals we see today.

Easy to listen to and follow. I will definitely listen again to absorb even more. Walter Dixon narrated beautifully. I would look for more titles that he has read as well.

Earth's history.

Loved it. although I am a huge history buff. I can listen to the narrator while I work, drive, mow the lawn, What ever.

Documented and researched pretty technical

Very thorough was more technical than I thought from a geological pov, overall very interesting though. It gives a very deep view of risk and life symbiosis

Very Good

The narrator kinda sounds like a robot but I ended up loving it all in the end. Very well paced, a great 'read' for anyone more interested in earth history.

Very interesting

I enjoy geologic time perspective. This book takes you through the evolution of the earth and the whole universe. It is really beautiful and continues all the way through to future possibilities.

Nerdy Geology at its finest?

What did you like best about The Story of Earth? What did you like least?

I liked that the Story of Earth is interesting.....if also boring. It's easy to be intrigued by the (many) things I didn't know about the history of our planet but it's also just as easy to back away from. There was certainly a limit to the amount of detailed knowledge I was willing to quickly accept at a given sitting.

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

Depends. At times I was on board with Hazen but others I got lost in details. I think this has a lot to do with the numbers of it all. Throughout the book, Hazen describes geological facts in terms of a timeline. For me, it became increasingly difficult to keep that timeline straight. In the first place, it's a massive timeline on a scale which the entirety of human history is but a tiny speck at the end, indistinguishable and unimportant. Secondly, 530 millions years ago sounds and feels just as remote as 350 million years ago. The numbers are just so large and the pace of reading so fast that it is no small task to process the wheres and whens of all the different ideas Hazen discusses. On that note, Hazen tends to jump to other eons and for a complete novice like me, this become confusing quickly. I effectively disregarded the detail of age and concentrated on the overall issue Hazen was attempting to explain. In this way, the book became easier to read and easier to process while maintaining the essence of Hazen's narration. I'm sure I missed some details on the way, but my sanity is still intact.

Also, for a listen, I was probably even more handicapped. A visual representation of a number has a different value than a heard number.

Which character – as performed by Walter Dixon – was your favorite?

Mother Earth :)

Did The Story of Earth inspire you to do anything?

Nope.

Any additional comments?

I have rated this 3-stars principally because the subject didn't hold my interest enough. This is just an issue of personal preference. There were definite moments where I was presented ideas that I never heard prior and concepts that were utterly foreign to my preconceptions to the subject. But these moments of surprise, intrigue, and awe were not the majority but were enough to fuel the engine to continue the book until the end. I imagine those more interested in geology, the Earth, or other life/earth science would be more connected to The Story of Earth. As for me, I'm glad I read it but I'm equally glad it's over.

fantastically easy to digest and a real eye opener

written and read in a clear and easy to follow manner. looking forward to another listen someday. the more complex subjects were still presented in a palatable way for laymen such as myself.

Good book but he defeats his own punchline

The author has a wealth of knowledge. This book is an extension of his Symphony in C. Much useful information. He then talks about extreme shifts in ocean levels (+/- 600 feet) based in studying isotopes of oxygen. These shifts have occurred multiple times in the last several million years. While methods may be questioned, if we assume his statements about these ocean levels are accurate, virtually all of these shifts occurred before industrialization. If so, his cautious assertion that current changes in sea level are the results of man’s activity is preposterous. That said, it seems to me we have much more to fear from other earth events like volcanic eruptions which he elegantly describes. Well worth the read despite an academic liberal bent