The mass of the earth -- The structure of the earth: rotation, precession, cosmogony -- The forces that shape the earth: Neptunism vs. Plutonism -- The age of the earth -- The forces that shape the earth: shrinking, isostasy, drift -- The structure of the earth: seismology -- The forces that shape the earth: convection and plates -- Our concept of the earth -- Exercises: Further Food for Thought.

With its new, unique look at the physics of the earth and at how this field got to where it is today, this is not a conventional textbook, but could easily be used as one. Designed to be understood by readers with no background in the earth sciences and only little previous knowledge of math and physics, Our Concept of the Earth differs from other geophysics books in that it places geo-scientific concepts in their historical context: ideas are presented in chronological order, according to the moment they emerged, one in response to the other, throughout the history of the discipline. In this way, the material covered in any given section of the book rests on simpler previously established concepts that are explained earlier in the book. The book is extremely self-contained and lends itself to being read from beginning to end, an experience that will captivate and even entertain a broad range of readers in academia and beyond.