A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight ChaptersHarvards acclaimed geologist charts Earths history in accessible style (AP) A sublime chronicle of our planet." Booklist, STARRED review How well do you know the ground beneath your feet Odds are, where youre standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering sheet of ice, rocked by a nearby meteor strike, or perhaps choked by poison gases, drowned beneath ocean, perched atop a mountain range, or roamed by fearsome monsters.