Book excerpt: "In a sweep of history, this book brings you what National Geographic has introduced into households for more than a century: the world and all that is in it. Concise narratives, each focused on one event and numbered chronologically from 1 to 1,000, walk you through the story of civilization, from the first evidence of life 3.8 billion years ago to the discovery of the first known planet beyond the solar system that could harbor life as we know it. Accompanied by hundreds of illustrations, events famous, infamous and little known offer insight into how and why the world has grown and changed as it has."--BOOK JACKET.