After exploring and explaining complex topics like the Periodic Table and DNA is his previous books, the New York Times Bestselling author is back with another fundamental topic – Air. In Caesar’s Last Breath, Sam Kean unravels the mystery of the air that we breath. From how our atmosphere was formed to the various geological changes that it affected, the book takes a look in the past as well as the future.
Sam Kean is the New York Times bestselling author of The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, The Disappearing Spoon, and The Violinist’s Thumb, all of which were also named Amazon top science books of the year.
Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us
Author: Sam Kean
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (July 18, 2017)
ISBN: 0316381640, 978-0316381642
Caesar’s Last Breath Summary
We know our solar system holds a number of planets and we also know that these are uninhabitable by any species. Temperatures, terrain, and many other conditions make it impossible for life to take form on these rocks. It must be really a miracle then that Earth had it all working in confluence to create ideal conditions for life. But it was not so always.
In Caesar’s Last Breath Sam Kean takes us back to the time when Earth’s atmosphere was not as table as it is today. Filled with gases from erupting volcanoes and other impurities, air was not always invisible and odorless. The author charts this turbulent period in Earth’s atmospheric history through centuries and as he explains the science in a simple, easy-to-understand narrative. Blending technical with humor the book explains how the air we breathe preserves our history.
From the times of volcanic eruptions, the author moves to the recent past and takes us to 18th century experiments that isolated some of the gases in the air we breathe. The Limewater experiment by Joseph Black substantiated that our bodies modify the air we breathe and that we cannot live without the air we breathe.
Caesar’s last Breath Reviews
Reader’s have in general loved Caesar’s Last Breath that talks about topics that are rarely covered otherwise in popular literature. His engaging and jocular writing style have kept readers turning pages as they explore different complex topics and look at air from different angles. The only complaint some of them are making is about the flow of the text as the author seems to jump from one topic to another without any specific order in mind.
“Purists may groan, but the overall effect is eminently accessible and enjoyable. A real gas, in short.” ~ Robin McKie, The Guardian
“. . . but what it lacks in comprehensiveness it more than makes up for in gleeful energy and curiosity.” ~ Jason Heller, NPR Books
Interview With Sam Kean
Listen to Sam Kean talk about his new book Caesar’s Last Breath.