An Ocean of Air
A Natural History of the Atmosphere
1st Edition
Published on 19. May 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-7475-9290-7 (ISBN)
Description
We not only live in the air, we live because of it. At ground level air transforms miraculously; it wraps our planet in a blanket of warmth, while the outer layer of our atmosphere soaks up violent flares from the sun. In this fascinating celebration of the Earth's fragile atmosphere, Gabrielle Walker traces a journey of groundbreaking scientific discovery from the first experiments in the Renaissance to recent findings in space.
Reviews / Votes
'I never knew air could be so interesting' Bill Bryson 'A wonderful lesson in how science works' Simon Singh, Daily Telegraph 'A blend of science writing and historical anecdote that is hard to fault ... Walker's account of half a dozen scholars and their inspired hunches, painstaking experiments, wrong turns and dazzling discoveries is like a good detective story' New Statesman 'Spectacular ... Kittinger's fall serves as entree to an amazing tale of the scientific discovery of the atmosphere' Giles Foden, Conde Nast TravellerMore details
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2010
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€16.49
Available for download
Person
Gabrielle Walker has a PhD in chemistry from Cambridge and has taught at both Cambridge and Princeton universities. She is a consultant to New Scientist, contributes frequently to BBC radio and writes for many newspapers and magazines. The author of Snowball Earth and presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'Planet Earth Under Threat', she lives in London and France.