Earth Sciences

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These fundamental materials have created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and greed for thousands of years. Without them, our modern world...

For readers of Bill Bryson, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Siddhartha Mukherjee, a wondrous, wildly ambitious, and vastly entertaining work of popular science that tells the awe-inspiring story of the elements that make up the human body, and how these building blocks of life travelled billions of...

Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space....

The author of Cod and The Basque History of the World takes an extraordinary look at an ordinary substance — salt, the only rock humans eat — and how it has shaped civilization from the very beginning....

The bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and The Map That Changed the World examines the enduring and world-changing effects of the catastrophic eruption off the coast of Java of the earth's most dangerous volcano -- Krakatoa. The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the...

A sweeping and revelatory new history of the age of dinosaurs, from one of our finest young scientists. ""THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR BIOGRAPHY."" — Scientific American The dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet’s...

From the author of the bestselling The Professor and the Madman comes the fascinating story of William Smith, the orphaned son of an English country blacksmith, who became obsessed with creating the world's first geological map and ultimately became the father of modern geology. In 1793 William...

The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue....

How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet - from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth....

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery....

New from the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (“A masterpiece of science writing.” —Washington Post) and “one of the stars of modern paleontology” (National Geographic), a sweeping and revelatory history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of...

The author of Finding the Mother Tree and scientist who pioneered the concept of sophisticated communication between trees, Suzanne Simard now offers a powerful vision for saving our forests based on nature’s deep-rooted cycles of renewal. "A masterclass on the inner workings of forests...

More than a hundred salt lakes dot Earth's surface, most of them hidden away in remote desert valleys. But today nearly all of them are at risk of drying up. Their death is a harbinger of rising sea levels, life-threatening dust storms, and environmental collapse.

***NARRATED BY THE MAP MEN!*** *AN INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!* *An Audible Most Anticipated Listen!* From YouTube’s Map Men comes a funny and fascinating journey into the maps that messed up: big time! In their long-awaited debut, Mark Cooper-Jones and Jay Foreman (aka, the Map Men)...

High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale. It holds the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived—a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail....

Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. There is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement: leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully...

Deep is a voyage from the ocean's surface to its darkest trenches, the most mysterious places on Earth....

In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us....

Worlds in Collision - written in a brilliant, easily understandable, and entertaining style and full to the brim with precise information-can be considered one of the most important and most challenging books in the history of science....

In this updated and expanded edition of climate scientist Steven Koonin’s groundbreaking book, go behind the headlines to discover the latest eye-opening data about climate change—with unbiased facts and realistic steps for the future.

From Graham Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, comes a mesmerizing book that takes us on a captivating underwater voyage to find the ruins of a lost civilization that's been hidden for thousands of years beneath the world's oceans. While Graham Hancock is no stranger...

In this radical new approach to Earth’s biography, Robert M. Hazen reveals how the co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere has shaped our planet into the only one of its kind....

Cutting-edge techniques across biology, chemistry, physics, and geology have transformed our understanding of the deep past, including the discovery of a previously unknown mass extinction....

How well do you know the ground beneath your feet? A primer for every Earth resident, by Harvard’s acclaimed geologist. “A sublime chronicle of our planet."" –Booklist, STARRED review Odds are, where you’re standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering...

Written by one of the world's leading dinosaur experts, Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior is a foundational work on the subject and an invaluable reference for anyone interested in these amazing creatures.

Prepare comprehensively for the Environmental Health Specialist and Registered Sanitarian Exam with this authoritative study guide. Covering water quality, food safety, inspections, wastewater systems, and solid and hazardous waste management, it integrates technical knowledge with practical applications. Learn inspection techniques, monitoring methods, and risk assessment principles used in modern environmental health practice. Each chapter is structured to enhance understanding, reinforce key concepts, and provide applied scenarios for real-world relevance. The guide also emphasizes ...

Groundwater monitoring technicians play a critical role in protecting environmental resources and ensuring the safety of subsurface water systems. This comprehensive study guide provides a clear, structured explanation of the technical knowledge used in groundwater monitoring, including monitoring well installation, environmental sampling procedures, hydrogeology principles, field instrumentation, groundwater flow behavior, and environmental safety practices. The book explores how groundwater moves through geological formations, how monitoring wells are installed and maintained, and how ...

Modern communities rely on vast underground networks that quietly move wastewater away from homes, businesses, and industries. Sewer system maintenance technicians play a critical role in keeping these systems functioning safely and efficiently. This comprehensive guide explains how wastewater collection systems operate and how technicians inspect, clean, maintain, and protect the infrastructure that supports public health. The book covers essential technical topics including sewer pipeline inspection, cleaning equipment, lift stations, flow monitoring, preventive maintenance, and ...

More than a hundred salt lakes dot Earth's surface, most of them hidden away in remote desert valleys. But today nearly all of them are at risk of drying up. Their death is a harbinger of rising sea levels, life-threatening dust storms, and environmental collapse. Writer and geographer Caroline Tracey didn't know this when she began crossing paths with salt lakes during her early twenties. From the Great Salt Lake to the Aral Sea, across the American West and around the world, the unusual beauty of these shimmering, uncanny bodies of water captured her imagination.

Water quality plays a critical role in homes, businesses, and industrial facilities, and water conditioning contractors are responsible for designing, installing, and maintaining systems that ensure safe and reliable water treatment. Conquer the Water Conditioning Contractor Exam provides a comprehensive technical guide covering the core knowledge required to understand modern water conditioning systems and treatment processes. This book explores the science and engineering principles behind water conditioning, including water chemistry, hardness removal, filtration systems, ion exchange ...

Prepare to master soil and site evaluation with this comprehensive study guide designed for aspiring Soil Evaluators and Site Evaluators. Covering everything from soil formation and texture to hydrology, aeration, and restrictive layers, this guide delivers clear, practical explanations in an audiobook-friendly format. Each chapter is written to provide deep understanding of the scientific principles underlying soil behavior, saturation patterns, and site assessment. Learn how to identify and classify soil horizons, evaluate permeability, and understand seasonal moisture fluctuations that ...

Master the essential skills and technical knowledge required to excel as a monitoring well installer. This comprehensive study guide covers all aspects of well construction, from site investigation and drilling techniques to screen selection, filter pack placement, and casing installation. Learn how to evaluate formations, design wells for reliable sampling, and apply proper safety protocols. Explore the principles of groundwater movement, hydraulic response, and aquifer types, and gain a deep understanding of water level measurement, sampling methods, and instrument deployment. Detailed ...

Master the principles behind pump installation, operation, and system performance with this comprehensive technical guide designed for serious learners and working professionals. This book explains how pumps function, how systems interact, and how each component contributes to reliable fluid movement under real operating conditions. Every chapter builds practical understanding of mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, and environmental factors that influence pump systems. The guide explores pump types, flow behavior, pressure relationships, intake design, piping layout, controls, and ...

Earth and Life: From a Molten World to the Age of Primates is a cause-and-effect journey through 4.5 billion years of Earth’s history—told in plain, clear language, but built on real science. This is not a timeline of facts. It is a logical reconstruction of how a dead, molten planet became a stable world with oceans, continents, ecosystems, dinosaurs, mammals, and eventually primates. You begin at the true starting line: a universe that initially had almost no heavy elements, the birth and death of ancient stars, and the formation of the solar system. From there, the book follows ...

Every spring, tornadoes tear through America's heartland with winds exceeding 200 mph. Every summer, derechos unleash hurricane-force destruction across hundreds of miles. Every year, floods swallow homes, and blizzards trap families without power for days.

Dawn and dusk – those fleeting, half-lit hours – are when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In THE SECRET WORLD OF TWILIGHT, author and smallholder Sally Coulthard invites us into this magical in-between realm, where seductive night-blooming flowers open, secretive mammals stir, giant moths reign and fantastical sea creatures ride the tide. Blending natural history, folklore and memoir, Coulthard reveals twilight as a vital, liminal force: one that has inspired awe for millennia and still has the power to illuminate our daily lives.

Prepare for success in wastewater collection operations with this comprehensive study guide designed for operators seeking mastery of sewer system management. Covering everything from pipeline hydraulics and lift station function to debris removal and inspection techniques, this guide provides clear explanations of critical concepts and operational principles. Each topic is presented in a concise, audiobook-friendly format, allowing operators to absorb information efficiently while working in the field or studying on the go. Understand the practical challenges of maintaining a collection ...

A herd of bison standing in the snow. Layered bluffs of multicolored sandstone. A silver Airstream trailer on a mountain highway. These are familiar sights for Neil Mathison and his wife, Susan. Newly retired, their son in college, they embark upon a great American road trip "uncoupled from the tyranny of calendars or a specific journey."

Master the essential concepts and practical skills required to operate a wastewater treatment plant with confidence. This comprehensive study guide covers biological treatment, clarification, disinfection, sludge management, chemical dosing, instrumentation, and laboratory testing. Each topic is presented clearly and concisely, emphasizing core operational principles while providing detailed insight into process control, hydraulic management, and effluent quality. Designed for operators preparing for licensing exams or seeking professional mastery, this guide balances technical depth with ...

California isn’t just a land of sunshine and scenic beauty—it’s a frontline for natural disasters. Survive the Season: California is your year-round preparedness guide for the three biggest threats to life, property, and peace of mind: wildfires, droughts, and floods. Written in clear, practical language, this book walks you through every stage of survival and recovery. Whether you're dealing with an encroaching wildfire, conserving water in a drought-prone community, or preparing for flash floods and atmospheric rivers, this guide has you covered.