The Invention of Air
Kids, it's fall, and I'm finally out of that summer stupor where all I can do is lie around eating ice cream. Now I'm lying around reading books.
One of the things that always irks me about the world is that if you look at the science section in the library/bookstore, Chemistry is always sadly underrepresented. Unless you count publications like How to Pass Organic Chemistry Without Really Trying, which I do not. So whenever I see something Chemistry related I'll pick it up, and I end up reading it as often as not.
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson isn't really heavy on the Chemistry, but it is about Joseph Priestly, who discovered oxygen, which is on the periodic table, and I'll take what I can get. He is kind of earnest and endearing, if you are not too turned off by the number of mice he suffocated in overturned beer glasses. (For scientific purposes, not for fun. They need their oxygen, you know.) Me, I am kind of delighted by the use of beer glasses - I love beer and science and, uh, oxygen. Also, he invented soda water and if that's not delightful I don’t know what is.
One of the things that always irks me about the world is that if you look at the science section in the library/bookstore, Chemistry is always sadly underrepresented. Unless you count publications like How to Pass Organic Chemistry Without Really Trying, which I do not. So whenever I see something Chemistry related I'll pick it up, and I end up reading it as often as not.
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson isn't really heavy on the Chemistry, but it is about Joseph Priestly, who discovered oxygen, which is on the periodic table, and I'll take what I can get. He is kind of earnest and endearing, if you are not too turned off by the number of mice he suffocated in overturned beer glasses. (For scientific purposes, not for fun. They need their oxygen, you know.) Me, I am kind of delighted by the use of beer glasses - I love beer and science and, uh, oxygen. Also, he invented soda water and if that's not delightful I don’t know what is.