An Ocean of Air - by Gabrielle Walker (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>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: <p/>- A flamboyant Renaissance Italian discovers how heavy our air really is: The air filling Carnegie Hall, for example, weighs seventy thousand pounds. <p/>- A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads. <p/>- An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door. <p/>- A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer. <p/>- 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.<p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br>Front cover: </p></p>Tag 3: A sense of wonder . . . animates Ms. Walker s high-spirited narrative and speeds it along like a fresh-blowing westerly. <i>The New York Times</i></p></p>Back cover: </p></p> This is science writing at its best: clear, witty, relevant, unbelievably interesting, and just plain great."-- Mary Roach, author of <i>Stiff</i></p></p>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: <br> A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads. <br> An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door. <br> A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer. <br></p>"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."--<i>Los Angeles Times</i> </p></p>"[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."--<i>American Scientist</i></p></p><b>GABRIELLE WALKER </b>earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cambridge. She is the coauthor, with Sir David King, of <i>The Hot Topic: What We Can Do About Global Warming. </i>She lives in London.</p></p>"<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>PRAISE FOR <i>AN OCEAN OF AIR</i> <p/>I never knew air could be so interesting.--Bill Bryson, author of <i>A Short History of Nearly Everything <p/></i>[Walker provides] counter-intuitive delights . . . This is a fabulous introduction to the world above our heads.--<i>Daily Mail on Sunday </i>(London)<br>
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