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The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence
The Great Courses
This course chronicles the history of Earth and life on Earth from the point of view of the minerals that made it all happen. A major theme is how minerals and life coevolved, leading to the unprecedented mineral diversity on our world compared to the other planets in the solar system. Professor Hazen tells this epic story in 48 action-packed lectures that take you from the big bang to the formation of the solar system to the major milestones that marked the evolution of Earth and life. He also looks ahead at what to expect millions to billions of years in the future.
It's easy to think that the green Earth dominated by life that we experience today is just as it's always been. But Professor Hazen introduces you to a succession of starkly different Earths, starting with the black, basalt-covered planet of 4.5 billion years ago, and progressing through blue, gray, red, and white phases as Earth, minerals, and life developed in concert.
Major episodes covered in these lectures include the formation of the moon from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the early Earth; the Great Oxidation Event, which was sparked by the earliest photosynthetic life and is responsible for Earth's iron and other important mineral deposits; the formation of the first continents; the start of plate tectonics more than 3 billion years ago; the repeating cycles of supercontinent formation; the Cambrian explosion of life, resulting in the first animal shells, bones, and teeth; the great episodes of mass extinction, including the dinosaurs; and the rise of humans - along with much else.
Most impressively, Professor Hazen is a pioneer in the study of mineral evolution, which is a unique lens through which to view the development of Earth. He tells the story with authority and with a rare gift for making you see the world in a new, intriguing way.
This course chronicles the history of Earth and life on Earth from the point of view of the minerals that made it all happen. A major theme is how minerals and life coevolved, leading to the unprecedented mineral diversity on our world compared to the other planets in the solar system. Professor Hazen tells this epic story in 48 action-packed lectures that take you from the big bang to the formation of the solar system to the major milestones that marked the evolution of Earth and life. He also looks ahead at what to expect millions to billions of years in the future.
It's easy to think that the green Earth dominated by life that we experience today is just as it's always been. But Professor Hazen introduces you to a succession of starkly different Earths, starting with the black, basalt-covered planet of 4.5 billion years ago, and progressing through blue, gray, red, and white phases as Earth, minerals, and life developed in concert.
Major episodes covered in these lectures include the formation of the moon from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the early Earth; the Great Oxidation Event, which was sparked by the earliest photosynthetic life and is responsible for Earth's iron and other important mineral deposits; the formation of the first continents; the start of plate tectonics more than 3 billion years ago; the repeating cycles of supercontinent formation; the Cambrian explosion of life, resulting in the first animal shells, bones, and teeth; the great episodes of mass extinction, including the dinosaurs; and the rise of humans - along with much else.
Most impressively, Professor Hazen is a pioneer in the study of mineral evolution, which is a unique lens through which to view the development of Earth. He tells the story with authority and with a rare gift for making you see the world in a new, intriguing way.
329 pages, Audible Audio
Published January 1, 2013
19 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Hazen
98 books137 followersRobert M. Hazen, Senior Research Scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Geophysical Laboratory and the Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, received the B.S. and S.M. in geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1971), and the Ph.D. at Harvard University in earth science (1975). The Past President of the Mineralogical Society of America, Hazen’s recent research focuses on the possible roles of minerals in the origin of life. He is also Principal Investigator of the Deep Carbon Observatory.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 20, 2020
Who would have thought that listening to a gentleman talk about mineralogy for 24h would be so interesting?! Also - who would have thought that the evolution of rocks and minerals is so closely intertwined with the evolution of life..
This was one of the (audio)books where I volunteered to go and walk with the sleeping baby and fetch stuff for grandparents, just to listen to another 1-2 lectures.
The lecture series did exactly what it says on the tin - it was a journey from the big bang to the future of solar system through the lens of the elements, minerals and "rocks" that emerged with each transformation of matter. Robert M. Hazen did a very good job transforming "boring" mineralogy into the co-evolution of matter and life.. and turning it all into a coherent story. Lectures were at an appropriate level of complexity and contained enough repetition and reinforcement to be easy to follow.
I definitely recommend to someone who wants to learn more about "the rocks" or just escape the current affairs into matters where a million years is a blink of an eye.
This was one of the (audio)books where I volunteered to go and walk with the sleeping baby and fetch stuff for grandparents, just to listen to another 1-2 lectures.
The lecture series did exactly what it says on the tin - it was a journey from the big bang to the future of solar system through the lens of the elements, minerals and "rocks" that emerged with each transformation of matter. Robert M. Hazen did a very good job transforming "boring" mineralogy into the co-evolution of matter and life.. and turning it all into a coherent story. Lectures were at an appropriate level of complexity and contained enough repetition and reinforcement to be easy to follow.
I definitely recommend to someone who wants to learn more about "the rocks" or just escape the current affairs into matters where a million years is a blink of an eye.
October 17, 2018
This is probably my favorite Great Courses class. Professor Hazen knows his stuff and explains it in detail. He takes you through the minerals that were formed shortly after the Big Bang through what additional minerals were formed from exploding stars to ones concentrated in water, and all points in between. But he doesn't stop there. He explains how minerals fed the first signs of life, and how life influenced additional minerals. He takes you through the atmosphere, crust, and mantle, and all the processes of Earth. He also covers life on Earth. I can't really cover it all, but I would say that it's comprehensive.
September 17, 2018
You probably hadn't thought about mineralogy in a while. Maybe in forever. Surely the only things you remember are the three types of rocks -igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. But there is so, so, so much more to the history of earth.
The planet we are on was only habitable for a brief percentage of its lifespan. Taking a time machine back more than 1 billion years will have you die a quick, painful death by asphyxiation. Imagine you step out of the machine to a barren beach with jagged rocks behind you and black sand in front of you-- and you immediately begin choking.
A few hundred million years later you're able to breathe, but maybe the earth is scorching hot and you succumb to heat exhaustion in minutes. Maybe you're at the equator with the sun directly overhead, but you freeze as the wind sweeps over an endless slushy sea.
Maybe it is temperate. You can breathe. Your body can regulate its temperature. But the only thing to eat is a green slime that activates your gag reflex. You can survive, but there aren't any trees. The rocks that provide shade are hard and jagged and too far away from the coastal green to make a good shelter.... Within hours your body turns red and purple from the UV rays piercing through the ozoneless sky. You can survive for weeks, maybe months, but it will be a painful, boring, and joyless existence.
The Earth wasn't made for us. Life made it ours. We should learn its history before we fuck that up.
The planet we are on was only habitable for a brief percentage of its lifespan. Taking a time machine back more than 1 billion years will have you die a quick, painful death by asphyxiation. Imagine you step out of the machine to a barren beach with jagged rocks behind you and black sand in front of you-- and you immediately begin choking.
A few hundred million years later you're able to breathe, but maybe the earth is scorching hot and you succumb to heat exhaustion in minutes. Maybe you're at the equator with the sun directly overhead, but you freeze as the wind sweeps over an endless slushy sea.
Maybe it is temperate. You can breathe. Your body can regulate its temperature. But the only thing to eat is a green slime that activates your gag reflex. You can survive, but there aren't any trees. The rocks that provide shade are hard and jagged and too far away from the coastal green to make a good shelter.... Within hours your body turns red and purple from the UV rays piercing through the ozoneless sky. You can survive for weeks, maybe months, but it will be a painful, boring, and joyless existence.
The Earth wasn't made for us. Life made it ours. We should learn its history before we fuck that up.
February 21, 2025
i just got updated on what's been going on in the past 30 years. mind blown!
i listened to the audio of the lecture being read by the author. very enjoyable.
i enjoyed the series a second time by reading it earlier this year (2022) still amazing!
it's 2/21/25 and i'm ready to dive in again.❤️
i listened to the audio of the lecture being read by the author. very enjoyable.
i enjoyed the series a second time by reading it earlier this year (2022) still amazing!
it's 2/21/25 and i'm ready to dive in again.❤️
May 17, 2025
48 thirty-minute lectures (24 hours total) and the 335-page course guidebook that accompanied them. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. Our universe is 13.8 billion years old; our solar system and planet 🌎 are 4.567 years old. There have been five mass extinctions wherein 99% of all species died out, leaving only 1% today (about 10 million species). 21 species of humans have existed over the last 2.5 million years, but only one survives today: we Homo Sapiens, only about 200,000 years old. In deep time, we only exist in the last one percent of earth’s history. As Spock would say: fascinating.
December 16, 2024
Listening to stories about rocks for 24 hours is honestly one of the best ways to spend my time. Only looking at rocks for 24 hours would've been better, and I'm not joking. A great exhaustive course on the evolution of Earth that makes you love and appreciate all the different kinds of rocks.
August 30, 2019
Professor Hazen is a leading authority on earth sciences, having coined the term “mineral evolution” (focus of Lecture 11), perhaps the biggest take-away from this course. When we talk of evolution, we automatically think of animals and plants. Hazen makes it clear early on in this course that minerals have also evolved over billions of years, giving rise to new “species” and forms. In fact, the biosphere and geosphere have co-evolved, each affecting changes in the other. This co-evolution is the focus of the final or 48th lecture.
From this course, I understood for the first time how self-replicating molecules, the precursors to life, came about and how a combination of gravitational forces and plate tectonics shaped our Earth. Essentially, heavier materials sink and lighter materials rise under gravity, thus the presence of water on the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere higher up. Another interesting fact is that our Earth has at least 80 times more water than what we see in the oceans. Water molecules exist in minerals and even in the Earth’s mantle. Seemingly lifeless planets and their moons also contain much water.
I highly recommend this wonderful course to those with enough patience to listen to more than 24 hours of lectures (the average lecture length is 31 minutes). Professor Hazen makes it easy to persevere through the unusually-long course. A very helpful guidebook accompanies the 24 CDs, each holding 2 lectures. In addition to lecture summaries, the guidebook includes a timeline (pp. 326-327), a table of eras and stages of mineral evolution (p. 328), and a bibliography (pp. 329-335).
From this course, I understood for the first time how self-replicating molecules, the precursors to life, came about and how a combination of gravitational forces and plate tectonics shaped our Earth. Essentially, heavier materials sink and lighter materials rise under gravity, thus the presence of water on the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere higher up. Another interesting fact is that our Earth has at least 80 times more water than what we see in the oceans. Water molecules exist in minerals and even in the Earth’s mantle. Seemingly lifeless planets and their moons also contain much water.
I highly recommend this wonderful course to those with enough patience to listen to more than 24 hours of lectures (the average lecture length is 31 minutes). Professor Hazen makes it easy to persevere through the unusually-long course. A very helpful guidebook accompanies the 24 CDs, each holding 2 lectures. In addition to lecture summaries, the guidebook includes a timeline (pp. 326-327), a table of eras and stages of mineral evolution (p. 328), and a bibliography (pp. 329-335).
October 1, 2019
This was a very interesting way of conceptualizing geological periods from the beginning of time to the present via elements and minerals and when and how they came into being. The idea of organisms creating geology and how very much our world today is a product of the creatures that came before is not often presented.
December 3, 2020
I listened to this rather than watched the videos. It's a great series of lectures on how Earth originated and evolved from fundamental elements and minerals. It's quite an exhilarating ride going through the hadean, archean, proterzoic, and phanerozoic eons. Very insightful. You will see the Earth and all of life in a whole new light.
August 31, 2024
This was absolutely excellent. I found myself going out of my way to keep listening to it, and tore through it really quickly even though it's a pretty long one (48 lectures). It covered an incredible scope, from the Big Bang through to modern civilization (and even went beyond in a few lectures to cover the anticipated future of earth and the solar system), but all with an eye towards mineralogy. This lecture was sort-of perfect for me, and I admit I planned to love it. I think my single favorite Teaching Company lecture series is one called Big History, and this one took a similar approach in that it covered EVERYTHING despite how crazy that scope is. I also absolutely love chemistry, so the focus on elements and their histories was really interesting and cool. And, finally, I have a kid who loves gems and rocks, so hearing about that was also perfect. So, while I was hugely biased towards loving this course, framed another way it exceeded my extremely high expectations! Most Teaching Company lectures are great, but this is one that stands out even amongst the overall high quality.
February 1, 2020
First off, I actually watched the DVD version of this, so I suppose it is cheating a bit both to record a review here and to link it to the Audio CD version. Oh well; the content is the same and it isn't really worth trying to create a separate record for the DVD version.
This was a very interesting lecture series. It's main idea, that Earth's minerals have evolved in a way analogous to and in parallel with biological evolution is really fascinating and insightful. Much of the material covered in these lectures (planetary formation, plate tectonics, the great oxidation event, etc.) were concepts that I was already familiar with, but the lectures tied them together into a much grander unified conception than I've encountered before, along with insights and bits of information.
In addition to the core idea of mineral evolution, another take away is a sense of deep time. Again, this is an idea I've encountered over and over again, but it is always helpful to see it from a new perspective. Here it was helpful both to have the continual return to the graphic timeline of eras of earth history that served as a reminder of just how much there is to it, and also the narrative structure as well that made painted these huge stretches of time as dynamic and interesting periods full of change, even if largely absent of life that we would relate to.
This was a very interesting lecture series. It's main idea, that Earth's minerals have evolved in a way analogous to and in parallel with biological evolution is really fascinating and insightful. Much of the material covered in these lectures (planetary formation, plate tectonics, the great oxidation event, etc.) were concepts that I was already familiar with, but the lectures tied them together into a much grander unified conception than I've encountered before, along with insights and bits of information.
In addition to the core idea of mineral evolution, another take away is a sense of deep time. Again, this is an idea I've encountered over and over again, but it is always helpful to see it from a new perspective. Here it was helpful both to have the continual return to the graphic timeline of eras of earth history that served as a reminder of just how much there is to it, and also the narrative structure as well that made painted these huge stretches of time as dynamic and interesting periods full of change, even if largely absent of life that we would relate to.
July 31, 2018
An exhaustive survey of mineral evolution throughout the history of the universe that takes a great deal of unexpected tangents in its storytelling. The layperson will find it a bit confusing overall, but with multiple reads, the picture, and even the ridiculously large lexicon of geologists, will become clear. A good addition for any educative ontology in big history.
June 6, 2020
Most chapters of this book are very interesting and the author is clearly enthusiastic about it. I would listen to it again unless it was so long.
There are some parts though that might be mostly interested to people planning or studying geology.
There are some parts though that might be mostly interested to people planning or studying geology.
March 24, 2023
This is a fantastic series of lectures about the origin of the planet Earth. The author is an accomplished scholar. It is a great education to those interested in the subject. It will probably inspire readers to review their studies of geology.
July 30, 2024
Excellent, comprehensive overview of 4.5 billion years. Very understandable and presented in a crisp, easy to digest format.
October 10, 2024
Fascinating look at the mineral evolution of earth. Really puts things in perspective. A bit slow at times, but filled with interesting tidbits.
August 13, 2025
Learned much about the life-earth coevolution along with many things I didn’t know about mineralogy and geology.
March 5, 2023
One of my favorite GC series of all. Dr Hazen outlines how minerals have evolved over time and explains his theory of the co evolution of minerals and plants and animals.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2022
An Incredible Synthesis
I'm graduated from college as a science major almost 60 years ago, before many of the topics in this course were even known, so I was surprised by the many new things that have been discovered since that time-especially Plate Tectonics. I knew bits and pieces of the story from other courses I have taken here, but Professor Hazen did an incredible job of synthesizing it all into a continuous understanding.
The other exciting part is that this was presented by someone who was right in the middle of doing the research. I truly believe this is one of the most exciting courses I have encountered here!
I'm graduated from college as a science major almost 60 years ago, before many of the topics in this course were even known, so I was surprised by the many new things that have been discovered since that time-especially Plate Tectonics. I knew bits and pieces of the story from other courses I have taken here, but Professor Hazen did an incredible job of synthesizing it all into a continuous understanding.
The other exciting part is that this was presented by someone who was right in the middle of doing the research. I truly believe this is one of the most exciting courses I have encountered here!
July 15, 2020
This is, by far, the most interesting audio book I've listened to. Hazen is extremely enthusiastic and it's contagious.
I listened to this 3 times and I'll probably listen again in the near future. Lovely!
I listened to this 3 times and I'll probably listen again in the near future. Lovely!
November 8, 2025
i really like this lecture series. it was published ten years ago but i still learned lots of new thinking and information that has been transforming the field since i last studied it.
i will definitely come back and listen to these again.
i will definitely come back and listen to these again.
April 3, 2023
Good work
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews