This is the story of a single pebble, whose history carries us into abyssal depths of time, and across the farthest reaches of space. Indeed, starting from this tiny, common speck, Jan Zalasiewicz offers readers a stimulating tour that begins with the Universe's dramatic birth in the unimaginable violence of the Big Bang and explores the construction of the Solar System and the origins of our own planet. Zalasiewicz shows the almost incredible complexity present in the apparently mundane pebble, starting with the astonishing number of atoms in each. We learn that many events in the Earth's ancient past can be deciphered from a pebble: volcanic eruptions; the lives and deaths of extinct animals and plants; the alien nature of long-vanished oceans; and even the creations of fool's gold and oil deep underground. Zalasiewicz also demonstrates how geologists reach deep into the Earth's past by forensic analysis of even the tiniest amounts of mineral matter. The pebble may be small, and ordinary, but it is also an eloquent part of our Earth's extraordinary, never-ending story. "The whole book is as much contemplative and poetic as it is scientific." -- Wired Magazine , GeekDad "Refreshing and unintimidating labor of love from a field-experienced scientist - a work that could even capture the imaginations of some uninitiated students." -- The Washington Times "Does it work as a popular science book? The answer is a remarkable and resounding yes...The great strength of the book is in the writing, which is at times beautiful, always engaging, and well-paced. There is no sense that the book ever stalls - so often a problem in popular science writing - and the author manages to express his own love and fascination for the discipline." --The Landslide Blog, a blog of the American Geophysical Union "Impressively skilful narrative...Geology has a gifted new popular science writer." -- New Scientist The story of a single pebble, whose history carries us into abyssal depths of time, and across the farthest reaches of space Jan Zalasiewicz is a Lecturer in Geology at the University of Leicester, before that working at the British Geological Survey.