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Flicking through The Viking Historical Atlas of the Earth by Roger Osborne and Don Tarling (£20, ISBN 0 670 85374 7), you read: “Geologists look upward as well as downward for clues about the history and composition of the Earth.” What follows is a swift, clear explanation of meteorites, asteroids and the formation of the planets. Then comes a tour through the entire geological history of the Earth, from the coal belts of Pennsylvania and the ancient seas that left the chalky layers under southern England, to the rising sea levels of modern times. A thousand maps add value to this excellent book.