Review: The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence

You probably hadn't thought about mineralogy in a while. Maybe in forever. Surely the only things you remember are the three types of rocks -igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. But there is so, so, so much more to the origin and evolution of Earth. 

The planet we are on was only habitable for a brief percentage of its lifespan. Taking a time machine back more than 1 billion years will have you die a quick, painful death by asphyxiation. Imagine you step out of the machine to a barren beach with jagged rocks behind you and black sand in front of you-- and you immediately begin choking.

A few hundred million years later you're able to breathe, but maybe the earth is scorching hot and you succumb to heat exhaustion in minutes. Maybe you're at the equator with the sun directly overhead, but you freeze as the wind sweeps over an endless slushy sea.

Maybe it is temperate. You can breathe. Your body can regulate its temperature. But the only thing to eat is a green slime that activates your gag reflex. You can survive, but there aren't any trees. The rocks that provide shade are hard and jagged and too far away from the coastal green to make a good shelter.... Within hours your body turns red and purple from the UV rays piercing through the ozoneless sky. You can survive for weeks, maybe months, but it will be a painful, boring, and joyless existence.

The Earth wasn't made for us. Life made it ours. We should learn its history before we fuck that up.