The time-dependent accumulation of helium and lead from the radioactive decay of uranium in minerals and rocks was suggested by Rutherford in 1905 as a means of determining their absolute ages. This seminal idea has been assiduously pursued in the last century by unorthodox physicists and chemists to detect and quantitatively measure numerous radioactive isotopes of widely varying lifetimes and abundances in natural systems. Absolute age determination based on these isotopes, called radiometric dating, now plays a central role in a broad range of Earth and planetary sciences: paleoseismology; paleomagnetism; paleooceanography; igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary petrology; geomorphology; geochemistry; tectonics; nucleosynthesis; cosmochemistry; planetary science; geobiology; paleoclimatology; paleoanthropology; and archeology. Assuming that the reader has only college level knowledge of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, this concise book (about 200 pages) focuses on the essential principles of radiometric dating in order to enable the students and teachers in various fi elds to quickly fi gure out the criteria to be met by parent-daughter systems and samples relevant to their specialization. This book draws heavily on three classic review articles which, in my view, capture the intellectual appeal and beauty of the subject for a very wide audience (Wetherill et al., 1981; Wasserburg, 1987; Allegre, 1987). I believe that this book will succeed in improving students’ understanding and appreciation of radiometric dating results generated and published by professionals. I hope it would also stimulate interest in students to take up isotope geology as a serious study and reach out for the excellent and comprehensive books on the subject.

The material presented in each of the 11 chapters is self-contained. However, the reader is urged to read all the chapters, as they are strung together into a concise, continuous, and easily comprehensible narrative to illuminate the subject as a whole. Vital points behind radiogenic isotope chronometry are stressed upon more than once. The reference list is mainly for students interested in further reading.

Chapter 1 covers the basic facts of nuclear and atomic physics, nuclear binding energy as a measure of nuclear stability, and the variety and relative abundance of different elements in the sun and the primitive meteorites. Chapter 2, then, moves on to the transformation of composition of nuclides, either spontaneously (radioactivity) or by external agents (induced nuclear reactions), and highlights the role of feeble natural radioactivity, both in driving and dating planetary processes.