false 3269091 3 A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the discovery that changed billions of lives&#8212;including your own.<br><br>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&#8217;s scientists to find a solution. <br><br>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.<br><br>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&#8212;massive nitrogen pollution and a growing pandemic of obesity.<br><br><i>The Alchemy of Air</i> 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. 3304430 9 9 2008 The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Discovery That Changed the Course of History total:46|5:21|4:15|3:10|2:0|1:0| 46 195 152 19 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 1 false Sun Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 03 15:07:30 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 05:55:09 -0700 2008
At the turn of the 20th century, an impending crisis faces the world: mass starvation. The earth simply can't yield enough food to keep up. The only men ...more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 4 1 false Mon Feb 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 11:35:32 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 12:41:47 -0800 2009
After explaining the important role nitrogen plays as a fertilizer and as an explosive, The Alchemy of Air then traces the history of the...more...]]> 6416644 0307351793 9780307351791 2 2 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6416644-the-alchemy-of-air 3 0 false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Dec 01 18:59:56 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 01 19:24:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 0 false Wed May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 11:46:29 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 13:08:37 -0700 2009
The main part of the book - the story of German Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch and their quest to be the first to fix nitrogen from the air on a large commercial scale ...more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 1 false Wed Nov 05 11:58:48 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 12:01:05 -0800 2008 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 0 false Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 21:14:41 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 07:56:59 -0700 2009 Also engrossing is the story of inventor...more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 4 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 07:47:03 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 07:51:50 -0800 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 4 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jul 24 10:11:06 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 10:14:04 -0700 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 3 0 false Sat Jan 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 16:22:01 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 20:01:37 -0800 2009 As for the book itself - It was very well written but had a bit too much history that wasn't related entirely to Ni...more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 4 0 false Mon Jan 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 15:24:02 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 15:29:53 -0800 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 4 0 false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 08:09:09 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 08:12:43 -0700 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 0 false Wed Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 05 12:56:52 -0800 2009 Mon Aug 24 13:42:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 0 false Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 11 08:32:29 -0800 2009 Wed Aug 05 10:03:28 -0700 2009
Written in an easy to follow, fast-paced way, this book explained the Hab...more...]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 20 07:35:50 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 07:40:06 -0700 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 0 0 false Sun Feb 22 08:31:41 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 08:32:11 -0800 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 4 0 false Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 12:47:25 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 19:41:09 -0700 2009
]]> 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 5 0 false Thu Apr 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 11:49:29 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 08:40:31 -0700 2009 3269091 0307351785 9780307351784 43 17 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3269091.The_Alchemy_of_Air_A_Jewish_Genius_a_Doomed_Tycoon_and_the_Discovery_That_Changed_the_Course_of_History 0 0 false Sun May 03 04:10:20 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 03:44:15 -0700 2009 6416644 0307351793 9780307351791 2 2 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6416644-the-alchemy-of-air 3 0 false Sat Jun 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 23:23:51 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 23:04:31 -0700 2009 6416644 0307351793 9780307351791 2 2 4.24 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6416644-the-alchemy-of-air 0 0 false Tue Dec 08 08:34:21 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 08 08:34:21 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3269091