The Invention of Air (2008)

This is the biography of the scientist Joseph Priestly and the events that happened around him. I found the story to be an interesting mix of science and history, as well as biography. Priestly had an imaginative mind and was always thinking outside of the box. He lived in an equally imaginative time with many changes in both science and politics. The mix of old and new ideas battle throughout this tale and affect its outcome, an outcome that follows through to this day. ( )

The history of science fascinates me and this was particularly good, but might have been better on the page rather than audio. ( )

Well-written and concise biography of Jacob Priestly. I also learned a lot about his good friend Benjamin Franklin while reading of Jacob's life. I had not realized that Priestly's work was the primary impetus for the paradigm shift in techniques of scientific investigation and the popularization of science. Steven Johnson presents revealing insights into the nature of scientific research and its influence upon and by politics and religion. ( )

Science isn’t my strong suit, but every once in awhile, I dive into its murky waters. The invention of Air centers on Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the British scientist who isolated oxygen and is known as one of the fathers of chemistry. A contemporary of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Priestley ended his days in rural Pennsylvania after being hounded from Britain for his “radical” views. The author argues Priestley was a major contributor to America political thought at a time when our country was in its infancy.

Science and religion seem to be constantly in conflict today, wedges that drive Americans apart. An individual’s scientific beliefs often are based more on religious or political leanings than on the study of science. Higher education is scorned by highly educated politicians who kvetch that the very foundation of education – critical thinking based on reason – is antithetical to religious belief.

In Priestley’s day, it wasn’t uncommon for clergymen (like Priestley himself) to be engaged in scientific pursuits … and to be engaged politically. After all, they were well educated and had the leisure time to pursue such interests. They weren’t out in the field dawn to dusk working to feed, clothe and house themselves. And politicians had intellectual lives, not being consumed for their entire life with pursuit of political office.

I read the author’s Ghost Map, a multi-faceted tale of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, for my non-fiction readers’ group. It was, like The Invention of Air, an amazing book … taking a slice of history, looking at it from all angles, slicing it and dicing it to examine its constituent parts, then putting it all back together so it makes sense to a non-expert reader. I admire the kind of brain that creates a book like that, and makes it readable. ( )

This is a very interesting biography of Joseph Priestley, amateur scientist and natural philosopher. While other men have gotten more credit for refining his experiement, Steven Johnson shows how he exists at an important nexus of science, history, and politics.

http://lifelongdewey.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/540-the-invention-of-air-by-steven... ( )