Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Between the Idea and the Reality -- 2. Is Our Planet Fragile or Robust? -- 3. Light and Air -- 4. Why the Peak of a Mountain Is Cold -- 5. Capricious Clouds -- 6. The Climate Tapestry -- 7. Weather, the Music of Our Sphere -- 8. The Ocean in Motion -- 9. El Nino, La Nina, and the Southern Oscillation -- 10. The Paradox of the Faint Sun but Warm Earth -- 11. Why Summer Is Warmer than Winter: The Cycles of Seasons and of Ice Ages -- 12. The Ozone Hole, a Cautionary Tale -- 13. Global Warming, Risky Business -- App. A1.1. Exponential Growth and Decay -- App. A1.2. Establishing a Chronology -- App. A2.1. Gaia -- App. A2.2. Chaos -- App. A3.1. Earthshine -- App. A3.2. The Scattering of Light -- App. A3.3. Blackbody Radiation -- App. A3.4. Effective Temperatures of the Planets -- App. A3.5. The Greenhouse Effect -- App. A4.1. The Scale Height of the Atmosphere -- App. A4.2. The Adiabatic Lapse Rate -- App. A5.1. Measuring Moisture in the Atmosphere -- App. A5.2. Earth's Energy Budget -- App. A5.3. How Many of Your Molecules Have Been to the Moon? -- App. A6.1. Conservation of Angular Momentum -- App. A6.2. The Coriolis Force -- App. A6.3. Shape of Earth -- App. A6.4. Gradient Winds -- App. A7.1. Predicting the Weather -- App. A8.1. The Seasonal Thermocline -- App. A8.2. The Perpetual Salt Fountain -- App. 9. El Nino, La Nina, and the Southern Oscillation -- App. A10.1. Weathering -- App. A10.2. Properties of the Planets -- App. 11. Earth's Sensitivity to Perturbations -- App. 12. The Ozone Layer -- App. 13. Global Warming.