Caesar's Last Breath: Sam Kean brings his keen eye for storytelling to explore the air around us

I just finished reading Sam Kean's new book Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the secrets of the air around us. I wasn't planning to write a review, but when I realized my blog has covered every other book by Sam Kean (including Dueling Neurosurgeons and The Violinist's Thumb), I felt like it deserved some attention.

The theme of the book is understanding the molecules that make up our air. Each chapter is devoted to a component or two that is found in the air we breathe. This approach means there is some overlap with Kean's brilliant debut, The Disappearing Spoon. Luckily, the overlap seems only to include the best stories in the history of chemistry and Kean is able to explore the stories further. For example, we get more background on the German chemist Fritz Haber inventor of the process to make ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen, thus spurring the development of agriculture and chemical weapons. I don't want to spoil it, but if you want a taste, you can check out Kean discussing the story on Radiolab.

Not all of the stories are as serious as Haber's. For example, Kean's chapter on methane allows a moment of silliness in the details of the life of the French performer Le Pétomane, a man who trained himself to fart at will. At his peak, he was the highest paid performer in France, bringing bigger crowds to the Moulin Rouge than even Sarah Bernhardt. 

It is difficult to choose a favorite among the chapters, but if I had to pick just one, it would probably be "Controlled Chaos", which focuses on water and its role in the Industrial Revolution, through the work of James Watt and others to develop steam power and the work of Alfred Nobel to make explosives. Nobel's legacy now is pretty securely tied to the prizes bearing his name. However, during his life time, Nobel's work cost many lives and left him in poor health, guilty and haunted by his reputation as a merchant of death. In fact, this guilt was the impetus for his starting the Nobel prize, much to the chagrin of his family who fought to inherit the wealth.

Because I read so many science books, I often have a sense of déjà vu when reading. However, Caesar's Last Breath included lots of new and interesting tidbits, like the surprising connection between Albert Einstein and refrigerators and the strange history of the manipulation of the weather. Perhaps my only complaint with the book would concern the final chapter on the air on other planets, which felt a bit disconnected both in subject and style.

I highly recommend Caesar's Last Breath for people interested in chemistry or the periodic table as well as those interested in the history of science.