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An Ocean of Air

A Natural History of the Atmosphere

Gabrielle Walker author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:19th May '08

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

An Ocean of Air cover

Galileo's Daughter meets The Cloudspotter's Guide Author is a regular contributor to Radio 4 and New Scientist Gabrielle's next book, The Hot Topic, tackles climate change and will raise her profile further

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. This book traces a journey of scientific discovery from the first experiments in the Renaissance to findings in space.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.

'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 Traveller

ISBN: 9780747592907

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 20mm

Weight: unknown

336 pages