""William C. Burger pours decades of experience into this readable overview of how our complex world came to be. Breezy and engaging all the way, this is a stimulating reflection on what has brought us to the beginning of the twenty-first century, and about what might come next.” —Sir Peter Crane, FRS, author of Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot “A charmingly written, lovely, and informative book that could be profitably read by any educated person, from high-school students on up. In it, Burger deftly outlines the history of our planet and the living organisms that make it what it is. He brings us forward to directly consider the global problem that we have created for ourselves and our common future.” —Peter H. Raven, president emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis “Over the course of a career, many scientists become progressively more specialized—they focus on a narrow topic of interest and explore its many dimensions. Bill Burger has done precisely the opposite over the course of his career. An acclaimed botanist who is proficient in the arcane arts of botanical nomenclature and still carries a Hastings triplet loupe, Burger has turned his sights on the diversity of life. Non-technical language conveys the patterns and processes associated with life’s immense variation, identifying those involved in its generation and extinction. By pulling human evolution into the narrative, Burger provides the perspective needed to appreciate why scientists are convening later this year to formalize a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, the Age of Humans.” —Bruce D Patterson, zoologist, Field Museum of Natural History