Some early printings of the book include the following errors, which have since been corrected:
On the frontpiece map, the dot indicating Bandelier National Monument should be on the west (not the east) side of the Rio Grande.
page 27. In the first full paragraph, the penultimate sentence should say that Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde collapsed by 1300 A.D. (not in the 1300s).
page 32. In the last paragraph, the second sentence should say that the North American plate smashed into the Farallon (not the Eastern) plate.
page 38. In the penultimate paragraph, Rutherford shot helium nuclei (not simply protons) at gold foil.
page 49. In the second full paragraph, the second sentence should say that Enrico Fermi named (not invented) the neutrino. As stated later on the page, the idea was Wolfgang Pauli's.
page 189. In the second full paragraph, the first sentence should say that the Tewa's arrival around 1300 came after (not when) Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon collapsed.
page 221. The last sentence on the page should say that glucose is broken down by the Krebs cycle and glycolysis.
page 222. The last sentence of the first paragraph should say that people lack the ability to synthesize ascorbic (not citric) acid.
page 232. The second sentence should say "oxygen recognized two hydrogens" (not "hydrogen recongnized two oxygens").
page 298. In the second paragraph, I should have written Viking (not Voyager) photographs of Mars.
page 327. The last sentence of the first full paragraph should refer to oily (not petroleum) pigments.