| The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Hager
Publisher: Harmony
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.95
You Save: $11.00 (44%)
New (39) Used (10) from $13.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 35349
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0307351785
Dewey Decimal Number: 540.92244
EAN: 9780307351784
ASIN: 0307351785
Publication Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster. Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’s scientists to find a solution.
This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: the brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and the reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives. Their invention continues to feed us today; without it, more than two billion people would starve.
But their epochal triumph came at a price we are still paying. The Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and high explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. Both men were vilified during their lives; both, disillusioned and disgraced, died tragically. Today we face the other unintended consequences of their discovery—massive nitrogen pollution and a growing pandemic of obesity.
The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of two master scientists who saved the world only to lose everything and of the unforseen results of a discovery that continues to shape our lives in the most fundamental and dramatic of ways.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Great book December 29, 2008
I stumbled across this book while browsing at the library. I'm always fascinated by how stuff works, and this book combines both an explanation of how nitrogen is produced as well as a historical tale of the people involved.
excellent December 9, 2008
I recommend this book to anyone interested in how the modern world has come to be what it is (for better or worse). The technical level is well suited to a general audience.
Science, History, Biography -- and Entertaining! November 21, 2008
This centers on the Haber-Bosch process which has so much influence to the current day.
Super relevant.
Fabulous book about a great invention that feeds the world November 17, 2008
This book is an excellent history of the people and times surrounding one of the greatest inventions of mankind, artificial nitrogen fixation. Mr Hager makes the events and personalities come alive. He writes a lucid and penetrating account of the Haber Bosch process, which stands as almost the single force which has prevented mass starvation in the 20th and 21st centuries. This book would make an excellent holiday gift for that hard to buy for techie on your list.
Couldn't put it down October 30, 2008
This is a fabulous true tale exceptionally well told by Thomas Hager. History changing events in Latin America and Europe are made palpable, interesting, and are told in a way that makes you care very intensely about the protagonists involved. Especially fascinating is the telling of the history of contesting in Peru and Chile over the raw materials for nitrogen fertilizer. Get this book now and I guarantee you won't put it down and will learn much about world history and how it could have been quite different. I can't say enough good things. Just get the book now. Gee, it almost sounds like I know the author, or stand to gain somehow. I don't and just want to share this book with the world.
John Lavender
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