Offers new ways of looking at static, inert rocks and minerals as part of the dynamic development of the Earth. An increasing number of enthusiasts are attracted by the rich variety of rocks and minerals around us, and new ways of looking at them. In this book, Walther Cloos views the Earth as a living organism, with different kingdoms of nature -- mineral, plant and animal – as stages left behind as the earth developed. He argues that everything currently inert and static was once dynamic and living. The author considers many different aspects of geology, including chapters on oil, sedimentary rocks, radioactivity, volcanoes and metals. Written over fifty years ago, this book is a classic, pioneering a scientific, geological understanding of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual insights into the evolution of the earth. The previous edition of this book was published as The Living Earth.