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The science and history of what lies between us and space: "I never knew air could be so interesting." -- Bill Bryson, New York Times bestselling author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants

A flamboyant Renaissance Italian discovers how heavy our air really is (the air filling Carnegie Hall, for example, weighs seventy thousand pounds). A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads. An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door. A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer (he also came up with the idea of putting lead in gasoline). A reclusive mathematical genius predicts, thirty years before he's proven right, that the sky contains a layer of floating metal fed by the glowing tails of shooting stars.


We don't just live in the air; we live because of it. It's the most miraculous substance on earth, responsible for our food, our weather, our water, and our ability to hear. In this exuberant book, science writer Gabrielle Walker peels back the layers of our atmosphere with the stories of the people who have uncovered its secrets.


"A sense of wonder... animates Ms. Walker's high-spirited narrative and speeds it along like a fresh-blowing westerly." -- The New York Times

"A fabulous introduction to the world above our heads." -- Daily Mail on Sunday

"A lively history of scientists' and adventurers' exploration of this important and complex contributor to life on Earth... readers will find this informative book to be a breath of fresh air." -- Publishers Weekly

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  • We started tracking this book on February 10, 2011.
  • This book was $9.99 when we started tracking it.
  • The price of this book has changed 123 times in the past 5,362 days.
  • The current price of this book is $2.99 last checked 2 hours ago.
  • This book is at its lowest price in the past six months.
  • This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $1.99.
  • The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on March 1, 2025.
  • This book has been $1.99 3 times since we started tracking it.
  • The highest price to date was $12.99 last reached on May 24, 2025.
  • This book has been $12.99 6 times since we started tracking it.

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  • Text-to-Speech: Disabled
  • Lending: Disabled
  • Print Length: 290 Pages
  • File Size: 45 KB

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