This edition focuses on explaining how the normal processes of Earth concentrate their energies and deal heavy blows to humans and their structures. Students have a natural curiosity about natural disasters and why they occur. This text explains why natural disasters occur by interweaving the themes of Energy sources, Plate tectonics, climate change, Earth Processes, geologic time, the complexities of multiple variables operating simultaneously throughout the text. Detailed and interesting Case histories are also intertwined with current content to give students a broad historical understanding of our dynamic and evolving planet.