Review by Booklist Review
Juxtaposing whimsy with chemistry and physics, materials scientist Miodownik (Liquid Rules, 2019) continues his quest to explore and explain the various states of matter. Here, he entertainingly tackles the many kinds and behaviors of gases--a mostly "invisible, odorless and colorless" category of matter. Some gases are essential to life, like oxygen and carbon dioxide. Others are important for civilization, like steam, methane, and wind. A few can be fatal, like chlorine gas (an agent of chemical warfare during WWI) and carbon monoxide. The discussion includes laughing gas (nitrous oxide), perfumes and other pleasurable scents, the helium that lifts balloons, pneumatic tires, vacuum technology, the nitrogen cycle, the so-called "noble gases" (neon, argon, krypton, xenon), and air itself. A typical person breathes in about 11,000 liters of air daily. A standout chapter titled "Enchanting" deals with smell (and its association with memory) and surveys pheromones, "nose blindness," body odor, and petrichor (the smell of rain). Miodownik's breezy commentary, delivered in an appealing and conversational tone, is certain to elevate our appreciation for the gaseous sphere.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this captivating study, Miodownik (Stuff Matters), a materials scientist at University College London, examines how gases and the inventions that utilize them have shaped human civilization. He notes that though nitrogen constitutes 78% of air, it remained difficult to "harvest" until the early 1900s when German chemist Fritz Haber realized that hydrogen reactions could draw nitrogen out of the air; because crops require nitrogen-rich soil, Haber's breakthrough led to the production of fertilizers that boosted crop yields worldwide. Surveying the many uses of the "humble air valve," Miodownik explains how its incorporation into brass instruments in the early 1800s enabled the instruments to vary pitch for the first time, and how its use in rubber wheels transformed bicycles from clunky wood and steel contraptions into a viable form of personal transportation. Elsewhere, Miodownik covers how CO2 's heat-trapping qualities are driving sea level rise, how the proliferation of cyanobacteria 2.4 billion years ago generated the oxygen-rich atmosphere later organisms came to depend on, and how large-scale differences in air temperature and air pressure produce wind. Miodownik combines a specialist's erudition with a generalist's broad scope, producing an expansive inquiry that bounds from human history to natural science and climate research without missing a beat. It's an exemplary work of pop science. Photos. Agent: Jo Wander, Jo Wander Management. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Gases seen as our technical, physiological, and emotional life-support systems. As light(hearted) as helium and as focused as an argon laser, Miodownik's exploration of gases and our dependence on them takes a whiff of their behavior and finds them extraordinary. Gases compose a universe of the invisible, from the oxygen we breathe to the methane that heats our homes to the atmosphere that protects all living things on Earth. The author details how we have gone from bequeathing gases with supernatural properties and intents (the caprice of the gods) to understanding the science. In the process, we have harnessed their power to our needs, devising technologies that sustain us and our civilizations. But at a cost. "Like the sorcerer's apprentice, we have employed these powerful spirits without properly understanding how to control them," he writes. Offering a wealth of surprises, his fascinating survey is as entertaining as it is eye-opening. Miodownik, a materials scientist, engineer, broadcaster, and professor at University College London, never lets hard science get in the way of an engrossing narrative, but neither does he scrimp on substance. It would be hard to imagine a more comprehensive guide to gases for the lay reader, or one that made their crucial, interactive role in Earth's history more apparent. Miodownik blends top-drawer expertise with a sprightly style that commands the reader's attention first word to last, opening most chapters with illustrative anecdotes from his childhood. But his examination of the causes that are accelerating global warming, of the double-edged quandary some gases represent, and of what humanity must do to reverse the damage is deadly serious. He does not preach, knowing all too well the practical and political complexities involved in weaning humanity off harmful gases, or even mitigating their impact. The periodic table was never so interesting. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
