Lavishly illustrated with over 200 photographs, this book is a celebration of Scotland's unique natural heritage. The book describes the creation of the rocks and Scotland's violent birth, and then the retreat of the glaciers, which carved out the landscape and allowed the return of the plants, birds, insects and animals. The story continues with the first hunters and farmers, and centuries later, the agricultural revolution that transformed the face of the earth in the eighteenth century. The benefits of modern developments such as roads, railways, canals, power stations, coal mines and the growth of tourism, are set in the context of the environmental problems that have accompanied them, and key sections of the book deal with conservation and protection of the natural heritage.