This concise handbook presents a summary of Earth’s history over the past 4.5 billion years as well as a brief overview of contemporaneous events on the Moon, Mars and Venus. The authors have been at the forefront of chronostratigraphic research and initiatives to create an international geologic time scale for many years, and the charts in this book present the most up to date, international standard, as ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Union of Geological Sciences. This book is an essential reference for all geoscientists, including researchers, students, and petroleum and mining professionals. The presentation is non-technical and illustrated with numerous colour charts, maps and photographs. The book also includes a detachable laminated card of the complete time scale for use as a handy reference in the office, laboratory or field.