The audiobook contains the course lectures; the PDF is the course guide / summary.

How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet - from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth.

You will travel to the center of our planet and out again, charting the geologic forces that churn beneath our feet to push the continents and seafloor around like froth on the surface of soup. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis are byproducts of our planet’s ceaseless activity, and you will focus on specific examples of each to learn why and when they occur. Volcanic activity has produced the atmosphere as a side effect, and you will learn how this sea of air functions at the global scale. Earth’s surface is mostly water, and you will explore the cycling of this vital substance throughout the planet, along with its role in climate, erosion, plate tectonics, and biology. 

Not only are humans at the mercy of our planet’s natural forces, but we ourselves have also become agents of change. We are altering the Earth’s land, water, and air faster than any other geologic process. This will be another theme of your journey: how humans have transformed watersheds, leveled mountains, changed the balance of gases in the atmosphere, and caused the extinction of enough species to hasten the end of the 65-million-year-old Cenozoic era. It is vitally important that we understand the nature of our geologic powers if we are to have any hope of controlling them. 

Contents:

1. Geology's Impact on History
2. Geologic History—Dating the Earth
3. Earth's Structure—Journey to the Earth's Center
4. Earth's Heat—Conduction and Convection
5. The Basics of Plate Tectonics
6. Making Matter—The Big Bang and Big Bangs
7. Creating Earth—Recipe for a Planet
8. The Rock Cycle—Matter in Motion
9. Minerals—The Building Blocks of Rocks
10. Magma—The Building Mush of Rocks
11. Crystallization—The Rock Cycle Starts
12. Volcanoes—Lava and Ash
13. Folding—Bending Blocks, Flowing Rocks
14. Earthquakes—Examining Earth's Faults
15. Plate Tectonics—Why Continents Move
16. The Ocean Seafloor—Unseen Lands
17. Rifts and Ridges—The Creation of Plates
18. Transform Faults—Tears of a Crust
19. Subduction Zones—Recycling Oceans
20. Continents Collide and Mountains are Made
21. Intraplate Volcanoes—Finding the Hot Spots
22. Destruction from Volcanoes and Earthquakes
23. Predicting Natural Disasters
24. Anatomy of a Volcano—Mount St. Helens
25. Anatomy of an Earthquake—Sumatra
26. History of Plate Motions—Where and Why
27. Assembling North America
28. The Sun-Driven Hydrologic Cycle
29. Water on Earth—The Blue Planet
30. Earth's Atmosphere—Air and Weather
31. Erosion—Weathering and Land Removal
32. Jungles and Deserts—Feast or Famine
33. Mass Wasting—Rocks Fall Downhill
34. Streams—Shaping the Land
35. Groundwater—The Invisible Reservoir
36. Shorelines—Factories of Sedimentary Rocks
37. Glaciers—The Power of Ice
38. Planetary Wobbles and the Last Ice Age
39. Long-term Climate Change
40. Short-term Climate Change
41. Climate Change and Human History
42. Plate Tectonics and Natural Resources
43. Nonrenewable Energy Sources
44. Renewable Energy Sources
45. Humans—Dominating Geologic Change
46. History of Life—Complexity and Diversity
47. The Solar System—Earth's Neighborhood
48. The Lonely Planet—Fermi's Paradox