Providing students with a basic understanding of geology and its processes and, more importantly, with an understanding of how geology relates to the human experience, this text presents students with an overview of the geologic and biologic history of the Earth as a continuum of interrelated events that reflect the underlying geologic and biologic principles and processes that have shaped our planet and the life upon it. The text emphasizes plate tectonics and the role that shifting plates have on the Earth's dynamic systems. It also integrates environmental and economic geology themes throughout.