Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened (Macmillan Science)

What is the Turin Shroud? When were the Pyramids built? Why did the dinosaurs die out? How did the Earth take shape? With questions like these, says Chris Turney, time is of the essence. And understanding how we pinpoint the past, he cautions, is crucial to putting the present in perspective and planning for the future.

CHRIS TURNEY is a British Geologist based at the University of Exeter. He did the radiocarbon dating on the 'Hobbit' fossil of Flores, Indonesia, that hit the headlines worldwide. He has published numerous scientific papers and magazine articles and done many media interviews thanks to his infectious enthusiasm for working out what happened when. In 2007, Chris was awarded The Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal for outstanding young Quaternary scientist for his pioneering research on past climate change and dating the past.