The fascinating science and history of the air we
breathe
** GUARDIAN SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 **
Sam Kean spent years collecting mercury from broken thermometers as a child and now he is a writer in Washington DC. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, Air & Space/Smithsonian and New Scientist. In 2009 he was a runner-up for the National Association of Science Writers' Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for best science writer under the age of thirty. He currently writes for Science. His first book, The Disappearing Spoon, was a New York Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Royal Society's Winton Prize for science writing.
Absorbing, entertaining... provocative but compelling... eminently
accessible and enjoyable. A real gas - in short!
*Observer*
Funny, clever and altogether effervescent... Kean writes superbly
about science itself... A joy for any reader
*The Sunday Times*
There is no denying the pleasure and indeed the wealth of
scientific information to be obtained from reading Caesar’s Last
Breath. It will change forever the way I think about breathing.
*Financial Times*
Kean is the teacher you wish you'd had: genial, companionable and
infectiously enthusiastic. This is an entertaining and accessible
guide to the mysterious vapour of gases. Popular science at its
best.
*Mail on Sunday*
It’s a helluva read. And it’s a gas.
*The Guardian*
An altogether excellent read, an invigorating and stylish mixture
of chemistry, history and reportage that brings to light many of
the untold stories of the air that surrounds and sustains us
*Times Literary Supplement*
This vibrant, fact-filled science book makes the chemistry of air
riveting
*Sunday Times Must Reads*
Told with Kean’s trademark combination of goofy wisecracking and an
exceptional knack for communicating the principles of science
*Wall Street Journal*
Fascinating stories, so insightful, informative, and disarmingly
written. It gave this astronaut a new respect for the air around us
all, and made me delightfully more aware of each breath I take.
*Col. Chris Hadfield, author of An Astronaut's Guide to Life on
Earth*
Brims with such fascinating tales of chemical history that it'll
change the very way you think about breathing.... Kean crams the
book full of wild yarns told with humorously dramatic flair.... The
effect is oddly intimate, the way all good storytelling is -- you
feel like you're sharing moments of geeky amusement with a
particularly hip chemistry teacher
*San Francisco Chronicle*
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