New Views on an Old Planet

The possibility of global change is much in the news nowadays. In New Views on an Old Planet:A history of global change Tjeerd H. Van Andel looks at the long history of the earth, and at the changes which have taken place. He starts off with the ice ages, and moves on to the longer term effects of continental drift. Later in the book he looks at the evolution of life on earth. This is a non-technical book, but I wouldn't recommend it to the complete beginner in the subject, since Van Andel often highlights some of the disagreements in the subject - he doesn't try to hide them to produce a simpler work

The book is most suited to the reader who has become interested in the history of the earth, and wants to find out more, and in particular to be able to judge the merit in competing ideas. However, in a fast moving subject, the publication date of 1994 is beginning to seem a long time ago - a third edition of the book would be very welcome. One thing that the book brought home to me was that although we can't be sure what changes might happen to the earth in the coming centuries, there's no reason to be complacent - large changes are much more likely that we may want to believe.