Earth

by Chris Packham, Andrew Cohen

‘Combines the natural history of programmes such as David Attenborough’s Planet Earth with the planetary focus of Brian Cox’s Universe ’ Guardian A beautiful, full colour book to accompany the 5 part BBC TV series telling the most important story of all, the deep history of our own planet. With the trademark dramatic storytelling techniques of The Planets and The Universe , Andrew Cohen and Chris Packham narrate the biography of the Earth, revealing the most epic moments from its history, from the first seconds of its existence to the arrival of its most incredible inhabitants, us. But humans take a back seat for this story as the Earth takes centre stage. We’ll witness those moments where our planet’s future hung in the balance in the face of massive bombardments from space, extreme changes in climate, the collision of whole continents and more, and we’ll tell the story of how Earth’s most incredible creations – life and intelligence – are set to have the same lasting impact on Earth’s story as any meteorite or earthquake. This is the epic 4 billion year story of the place we call home.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Natural History, History, Space, Earth Sciences, Geology

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Chris Packham is a British naturalist and TV presenter and is well known for his many BBC television series since the days of The Really Wild Show through to Springwatch. He is an award winning photographer and writer, whose career has revolved around promoting public awareness of wildlife and conservation for more than 25 years. He continues to be a part of pioneering natural history television, such as Secrets of our Living Planet, Inside the Animal Mind and Operation Iceberg.

Reviews

[Olive · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fascinating I love learning about clouds and evolution

[Bill Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tie-in to the BBC series of the same name, “Earth” is a beautifully illustrated and fascinating deep history of our planet, from its formation 4.6 billion years ago until the present day. The story involves an almost symbiotic relationship between geology, atmosphere and life, with a dynamic earth setting the stage for life, which in turn changes the earth and its atmosphere, which then enhances—or sometimes extinguishes—life.

The book does a great of explaining the many events that had to come together for life to make strides. To take just one of many examples, animals couldn’t colonize the land before a food source had taken hold, and plants couldn’t make the leap until they had soil (which is a great deal more complex than mere “dirt”) to hold water and nutrients. Enter fungi, which can collaborate with plants to draw nutrition directly from minerals and begin the process of breaking down the earth’s rocks. After a few tens of millions of years of gradually living and dying, during which the world was more or less a Planet of the Mushrooms, the plants’ own cycle of life, death and decay gradually produced soil, allowing Earth to become a green planet.

The Earth has been so many things during its long life: a volcanic hell, a giant snowball (more than once), a desert planet, a water world. Life here has nearly died five times (six, if you count our ongoing efforts). With clear prose, beautiful photographs and the occasional explanatory diagram, the authors do a great job of explaining how all these different Earths fit together, and how one leads to another. It’s an awe-inspiring story.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic journey through the planets four and a half billion year history.. absorbing reading aobut al the climate changes there have been and extinctions..

[Emily May · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down