A University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences faculty member is co-author
of an award-winning undergraduate textbook that is reshaping how Earth history is
taught.
Earth History: Stories of Our Geological Past, published by Cambridge University Press,
has been named the 2026 PROSE Award Category Winner in Earth Science by the Association
of American Publishers. The book has also received the 2026 Most Promising New Textbook
Award from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association, which recognizes excellence
in first-edition textbooks.
“Producing a textbook can be a yeoman’s task, critical for future students in a discipline, but something that goes unnoticed for the author. The awards not only recognize all the work that Pete and Janok put into this book, but also that they have written a well-received volume.”
– Julia Wellner, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
The textbook is co-authored by Peter Copeland, professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston, and Janok P. Bhattacharya, the Susan Cunningham Research Chair in Geology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and a former adjunct faculty member at UH. First published in May 2025, the book is available in paperback and hardback editions, as well as an enhanced eBook with online instructional resources.
Designed for undergraduate students, Earth History takes a conceptual, story-driven approach to geology. Instead of presenting an encyclopedic survey of geologic time, the book focuses on pivotal moments in Earth’s past, including the extinction of the dinosaurs and the formation of the Himalaya and the Grand Canyon, to demonstrate how geologists use multiple lines of evidence to reconstruct planetary history. The narrative integrates stratigraphy, paleontology, petrology, geochemistry and geophysics, making the material accessible to students with little or no prior background in geology.
“The writing style is engaging and light of touch. Each chapter has key words to accompany concepts in the text, alongside further reading and review questions, which allows for welcome flexibility in how each chapter is taught. It succeeds in drawing on a variety of sub-disciplines to provide students who have little or no previous knowledge of geology with a broad understanding of our planet and its fascinating journey. There is an excellent glossary, and the online resources include figures, lecture PowerPoint slides and a test bank for instructors. Overall, the chapters are impressively comprehensive, yet they provide the opportunity to be read at different levels depending on the Earth history course they accompany. The authors are to be warmly congratulated on what may turn out to be a hallmark book in the teaching of geology.”
— Chris Hawkesworth, Geoscientist Online
Each chapter opens with illustrated timelines that situate key events in time, and the book features full-color figures and photographs throughout. Instructor resources, including lecture slides and a test bank, accompany the text and support classroom use.
Copeland’s research expertise spans thermochronology, geochemistry and continental tectonics, with a focus on the evolution of continental crust and mountain systems such as the Rocky Mountains and the Himalaya. He served as co-editor of the Geological Society of America Bulletin from 2001 to 2004 and has taught and conducted research at UH since 1990.
His commitment to education extends beyond research and into the classroom. In addition to co-authoring Earth History: Stories of Our Geological Past, Copeland is the author of Communicating Rocks: Writing, Speaking, and Thinking About Geology, a widely used guide that emphasizes the essential role of communication in scientific work. The book highlights that scientific discovery does not end with data collection but depends on clear and effective writing and speaking to share findings with broader audiences. It provides practical guidance for Earth science students, including how to write research papers, develop presentations, design posters, complete a thesis and prepare funding proposals.
Bhattacharya is internationally recognized for his work on sedimentary rocks and sequence stratigraphy, particularly in western North America. Before joining academia, he worked in the petroleum industry and previously served on the faculty at the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Dallas. His honors include the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ Grover E. Murray Distinguished Educator Award and the 2023 SEPM Francis J. Pettijohn Medal for excellence in sedimentology and stratigraphy.
The dual recognition from the PROSE Awards and the Textbook & Academic Authors Association places Earth History: Stories of Our Geological Past among the most distinguished new scholarly textbooks of the year and highlights the global impact of University of Houston faculty scholarship in Earth and atmospheric sciences.