Deep Time

Deep time is the timescale of the geological events that have shaped our planet. Whilst so immense as to challenge human understanding, its evidence is nonetheless visible all around us.

Through explanations of the latest research and over 200 fascinating images, Deep Time explores this evidence, from the visible layers in ancient rock to the hiss of static on the radio, and from fossilized shark's teeth to underwater forests. These relics of ancient epochs, many of which we can see and touch today, connect our present to the distant past and answer broader questions about our place in the timeline of the Earth.

Charting 4.5 billion years of geological history, this is the story of our world, from its birth to the dawn of civilization.

Riley Black is the author of Skeleton Keys, My Beloved Brontosaurus and numerous other books. She has also written about prehistory for publications from National Geographic to Nature and is the resident palaeontologist for the Jurassic World franchise. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Carving a timeline through the aeons of evolution that have taken place before our time on Earth, Deep Time explores the evidence that exists beneath our feet, in our museums, in the skies and surrounding us every day, which can help us to make sense of the great age of our world. How can the human mind conceive of the immense arc of the history of our planet or the vast expanse of time since the beginning of the universe? Deep time challenges our sense of meaning, both individually and collectively, and threatens to overwhelm our comprehension of the cosmos. But windows to this cosmic span do exist - traces and artefacts of ancient epochs, things we can see and touch today, which can connect us to this distant past. From the prismatic bands in a polished rock, to the hiss of static on the radio, and from the fossil fragments you find on the beach to the stars in the night sky, the evidence of deep time is all around us. Carving a timeline through the aeons of evolution that have taken place before our time on Earth, Deep Time explores the evidence that exists beneath our feet, in our museums, in the skies and surrounding us every day, which can help us to make sense of the great age of our world. Organised chronologically, Deep Time features full colour imagery of incredible objects, places and phenomena that have withstood unimaginable geological and cosmic forces to bring us the story of time itself.

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