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The Alchemy of Air
- A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
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Publisher's summary
A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the discovery that changed billions of lives - including your own.
At the dawn of the 20th 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's scientists to find a solution. 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.
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The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants to transform the West.
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Too much mouth noise in narration
- By AES on 07-23-19
By: Marc Reisner
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 37 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly - or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity, there was a span of hardly more than 25 years.
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Beware limitations of the reader
- By JFanson on 01-01-19
By: Richard Rhodes
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The Age of Radiance
- The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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From the New York Times best-selling author of Rocket Men and the award-winning biographer of Thomas Paine comes the first complete history of the Atomic Age, a brilliant, magisterial account of the men and women who uncovered the secrets of the nucleus, brought its power to America, and ignited the 20th century.
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Strong finish
- By David's Opinions and Reviews on 05-04-14
By: Craig Nelson
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Freedom's Forge
- How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Arthur Herman pens this fascinating look at how two businessmen turned the U.S. into a military powerhouse during World War II. In 1940, FDR asked General Motors CEO William Knudsen to oversee the production of guns, tanks, and planes needed for the war. Meanwhile, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser presided over the building of “Liberty ships” - vessels that came to symbolize America’s great wartime output.
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Enlightening. Amazing, Great Narration
- By G. Sanders on 08-26-12
By: Arthur Herman
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Banana
- The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
- By: Dan Koeppel
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
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Banana combines a pop-science journey around the globe, a fascinating tale of an iconic American business enterprise, and a look into the alternately tragic and hilarious banana subculture (one does exist) - ultimately taking us to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world's most beloved fruit.
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Very Good Book - History, Science, and Economics
- By Jose on 11-08-17
By: Dan Koeppel
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Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
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Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
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Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
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How to Hide an Empire
- A History of the Greater United States
- By: Daniel Immerwahr
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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We are familiar with maps that outline all 50 states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an "empire", exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories - the islands, atolls, and archipelagos - this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, author Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light.
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How to beat a straw man to death
- By Susan on 01-25-20
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Adapt
- Why Success Always Starts with Failure
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
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In this groundbreaking work, Tim Harford shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives. Harford argues that today’s challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinions; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex. Instead, we must adapt. Deftly weaving together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics, along with compelling stories of hard-won lessons learned in the field, Harford makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial-and-error....
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Hidden Agenda
- By Lawrence on 05-20-13
By: Tim Harford
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Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy paints an epic picture of change in an intimate way by telling the stories of the tools, people, and ideas that had far-reaching consequences for all of us. From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette's disposable razor to IKEA's Billy bookcase, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford recounts each invention's own curious, surprising, and memorable story.
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Thought provoking
- By Paul Norris on 09-10-17
By: Tim Harford
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Windfall
- The Booming Business of Global Warming
- By: McKenzie Funk
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Global warming's physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see a potential windfall in each of these forces. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland - and for the man-made snow trade. Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland.
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unintended windfalls mixed with obvious perils
- By Andy on 02-09-14
By: McKenzie Funk
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Chinese Rules
- Mao's Dog, Deng's Cat, and Five Timeless Lessons from the Front Lines in China
- By: Tim Clissold
- Narrated by: Stephen Critchlow
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Exploring key episodes in that nation's long political, military, and cultural history, Clissold outlines five Chinese Rules, which anyone can deploy in on-the-ground situations with modern Chinese counterparts. These Chinese rules will enable foreigners not only to cooperate with China but also to compete with it on its own terms.
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Two books in one, one excellent one boring
- By Ed Sander on 09-08-17
By: Tim Clissold
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What listeners say about The Alchemy of Air
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- C. Levitan
- 08-29-11
The most important element on earth
This book is a riviting story of, well, nitrogen. It's also a story of famine and war, since nitrogen's main industrial uses are fertilizer and gunpowder. I'll never read history the same, knowing that Europe, in the 1700's, and China, in the 1960's were both in famine, both relieved by fertilizer. It's amazing to plot the path from ship-to-ship barrages in the Napoleonic wars back to guano deposits in then-Bolivia, and before that, to compost trenches required on every British farm.
Poor Haber is as sad a bit of humanity as you can imagine. His effort to end hunger drove German into two wars, his effort to end all wars created poison gas, and his efforts at insecticide ended up gassing Jews. The only rough part of the book was the sweeping, brief summary of nitrogen in today's world.
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6 people found this helpful
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- John J Lorino
- 03-13-13
Much more than air in this book
Where does The Alchemy of Air rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
A very interesting and intertwined historically relevant story. Well written and well read by the narrator. A lot more substance than expected. Insights into chemistry, history, politics and sociology all in one book. Well worth the time to read or listen too!
What about Adam Verner’s performance did you like?
Smooth, clear and crisp presentation of an often technical topic. Never boring.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
The depth of the interconnections in this book are very enlightening. Did Haber saved the world from the Malthusian dilemma... Or did he only postpone the inevitable?
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- A Synthetic Biologist
- 08-30-12
Good overview of the development of Haber Bosch
This is a good overview of the development of the Haber Bosch process, which is central to modern agriculture and thus society as we know it. The book is a little brief, but gives a good overview. Haber, who developed the small scale process, led a very conflicting life. His invention fed the world but also led to ability to make endless munitions. Assimilation was central to his German identity, only to embrace his Jeweshness as his life came to an end. The author could have played up these dichoties and created a more compelling narative, but that would have likely been less honest. Bosch was the man who took Haber's impractical process and scaled it up. Haber even admits that he didn't think that would be possible.
Aside from the personal stories, this book shows how determination can take a seemingly impossible physical process and turn it into a reality. I am interested in the future of fuels, and one of the things that interested me about this book were the parallels between the difficulties that Bosch encountered and the difficulties that our society faces as we try to use similar technology (Fischer Tropsch) to generate fuel from CO2. This book makes it sound like Bosch was a man who could have turned CO2 into fuel economically, given an adequate source of cheap energy.
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- Kip
- 03-29-13
4 Billion People owe their lives to this story.
Where does The Alchemy of Air rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Around the turn of the 19th century, scientists began worrying that mass starvation was going to become a global catastrophe because of the growing population in relation to the amount of arable land to grow crops. This conundrum was eventually solved by a pair of German scientists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch who went on to become Nobel Prize recipients for their work.
The corporate strategy involved in patenting the technology and competing against natural fertilizers was eye-opening. Of course throw in two World Wars and the story really gets interesting. The story is amazing, the science is not difficult to follow and the narration is great. If you like to read about science, World War II, or just want to know more about what is arguably the most important technological achievement by man, get this book!
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Alchemy of Air?
The story of Fritz Haber and his relationship with his family Judaism and how that clashed with his science in support of the German war machine.
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- Pam
- 10-23-12
Interesting history
Would you listen to The Alchemy of Air again? Why?
Yes, I didn't realise the significance of this invention until I listened to the book. I would listen again to pick up on some of the information I missed the first time.
Have you listened to any of Adam Verner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
N/A
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- Acteon
- 11-11-13
Added a new perspective
Where does The Alchemy of Air rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Among the best, but I have listened to quite a few good ones.
What did you like best about this story?
It expanded my understanding of 19th and 20th century history as well as the problem of world food supply.
What does Adam Verner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Adam Verner read well, at a good clip.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
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- Kappavpi
- 01-24-13
History Written Like A Novel
This is the fascinating story of two German scientists whose revolutionary inventions gave the world an inexhaustible supply of both fertilizer and explosives -- ultimately created from air. If you have any interest in history you will enjoy this, not only because it is about some extremely important turning points, but also because it is true factual history written like a novel, which makes it even more palatable. The reading is pretty good as well.
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- Edmund
- 10-28-18
Who needs fiction
Another great story by Thomas Hager. He knows how to weave a good story and keep the listener interested. One of my favorites.
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- Mari Contigo
- 09-11-22
A fascinating look into applied chemistry
The narration of this text allows the reader to absorb the twists and turns of historical accounts.
whether you listen to the book or read it it will be well worth your time.
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- PNC917
- 09-28-23
Critical Modern 20th C. History
Excellent presentation of an essential and critical historical background for how we and our civilization have arrived at our present challenge
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