Walker, Gabrielle: An Ocean of Air

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In An Ocean of Air Gabrielle Walker writes about the various constituents and layers of earth's atmosphere and the role they play in promoting life and protecting the earth from the hostile environment of space. The topics she covers are more varied than you might think, including, for example, the ozone layer and the northern lights, the trade winds and the telegraph, antioxidants and crab spiders. Walker's book is written for laymen, and while it is not exactly a light read--there are sections that required a good deal of concentration, at least on my part--it is certainly accessible to the non-scientist. Walker focuses her account on a series of personalities. In her chapter on oxygen, for example, she writes about Joseph Priestley (the inventor of the carbonated beverage!) and Antoine Lavoisier (who was beheaded in 1794); when the subject turns to carbon dioxide we meet Joseph Black (whose experiments with air began with his attempts to find a cure for bladder stones); Christopher Columbus and the aviator Wiley Post come to the fore in the author's discussion of wind.

One of Walker's chapters is downright riveting. In discussing the ionosphere she writes about Marconi and the telegraph. (Telegraph signals seemed to curve around the horizon, though they were in fact bouncing off the ionosphere between sender and receiver and only appeared to be curving.) Two of Marconi's employees--Phillips and Bride--were aboard the Titanic, and Walker tells the story of the sinking from the perspective of these men, one of whom survived.

"Even though the Carpathia was far over the horizon from the Titanic, the waves carrying Phillips's message leapt over the intervening mountain of sea, before bouncing back down to where the Carpathia's aerial crackled in response. Minutes after the Carpathia's captain was wakened with the news, he ordered her to be turned and all power diverted to the engines. Cottam [the Carpathia's telegraph operator] wired his friends on board the Titanic to say they were speeding to the rescue. They were four hours away, he wrote, and 'coming hard.'"

Focusing on individuals was a smart way to write the book. Walker has a knack for bringing her historical subjects to life. Anyone who's interested in the the atmosphere--a sexy topic in today's world--would do well to look to this book for some background.