An Ocean of Air - by Gabrielle Walker (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

We don't just live in the air; we live because of it. It's the most miraculous substance on earth, responsible for our food, our weather, our water, and our ability to hear. In this exuberant book, gifted science writer Gabrielle Walker peels back the layers of our atmosphere with the stories of the people who uncovered its secrets:

- A flamboyant Renaissance Italian discovers how heavy our air really is: The air filling Carnegie Hall, for example, weighs seventy thousand pounds.

- A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads.

- An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door.

- A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer.

- A reclusive mathematical genius predicts, thirty years before he's proved right, that the sky contains a layer of floating metal fed by the glowing tails of shooting stars.

From the Back Cover

Front cover:

Tag 3: A sense of wonder . . . animates Ms. Walker s high-spirited narrative and speeds it along like a fresh-blowing westerly. The New York Times

Back cover:

This is science writing at its best: clear, witty, relevant, unbelievably interesting, and just plain great."-- Mary Roach, author of Stiff

We don t just live in the air; we live because of it. It s the most miraculous substance on earth, responsible for our food, our weather, our water, and our ability to hear. Gabrielle Walker peels back the layers of our atmosphere with the stories of the people who uncovered its secrets:
A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads.
An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door.
A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer.

"Walker has a PhD in chemistry, but she writes like a poet. With a few deft strokes, she brings wacky characters to life . . . Walker's book should absorb and delight anyone who breathes."--Los Angeles Times

"[Walker] shows a storyteller's knack for making long-settled questions seem again intriguing and mysterious. As a result, the book imparts a new appreciation of an element so pervasive as to be invisible."--American Scientist

GABRIELLE WALKER earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cambridge. She is the coauthor, with Sir David King, of The Hot Topic: What We Can Do About Global Warming. She lives in London.

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Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR SNOWBALL EARTH

"A thrilling tale of brilliant researchers . . . not only crystal-clear but also wonderfully dramatic."--THE WASHINGTON POST

"[R]iveting in its vivid portrayal of the great icy catastrophes which may have gripped our planet nearly a billion years ago, and its depiction of the very human scientists involved . . . Both the geological and the human story are brilliantly told."--OLIVER SACKS --