Part I: Studying the Earth.
Chapter 1: Rocks for Jocks (and Everybody Else).
Chapter 2: Observing Earth through a Scientifi c Lens.
Chapter 3: From Here to Eternity: The Past, Present, and Future of Geologic Thought.
Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home: Planet Earth.
Part II: Elements, Minerals, and Rocks.
Chapter 5: It's Elemental, My Dear: A Very Basic Chemistry of Elements and Compounds.
Chapter 6: Minerals: The Building Blocks of Rocks.
Chapter 7: Recognizing Rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic Types.
Part III: One Theory to Explain It All: Plate Tectonics.
Chapter 8: Adding Up the Evidence for Plate Tectonics.
Chapter 9: When Crustal Plates Meet, It's All Relative.
Chapter 10: Who's Driving This Thing? Mantle Convection and Plate Movement.
Part IV: Superficially Speaking: About Surface Processes.
Chapter 11: Gravity Takes Its Toll: Mass Wasting.
Chapter 12: Water: Above and Below Ground.
Chapter 13: Flowing Slowly toward the Sea: Glaciers.
Chapter 14: Blowing in the Wind: Moving Sediments without Water.
Chapter 15: Catch a Wave: The Evolution of Shorelines.
Part V: Long, Long Ago in This Galaxy Right Here.
Chapter 16: Getting a Grip on Geologic Time.
Chapter 17: A Record of Life in the Rocks.
Chapter 18: Time before Time Began: The Precambrian.
Chapter 19: Teeming with Life: The Paleozoic Era.
Chapter 20: It Should Have Been Called Mesozoic Park: When Dinosaurs Dominated.
Chapter 21: The Cenozoic Era: Mammals Take Over.
Chapter 22: And Then There Were None: Major Extinction Events in Earth's History.
Part VI: The Part of Tens.
Chapter 23: Ten (Plus) Ways Humans Act as Geologic Agents.
Chapter 24: Ten Geologic Hazards.
Index.