Oxygen

Book cover of Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World

Book description

Oxygen has had extraordinary effects on life. Three hundred million years ago, in Carboniferous times, dragonflies grew as big as seagulls, with wingspans of nearly a metre. Researchers claim they could have flown only if the air had contained more oxygen than today - probably as much as 35 per…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Oxygen as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Neil W. Blackstone

Author

A comprehensive and very readable biography of oxygen, its scientific study, and its role in the history of life on Earth.

The “big picture” view is grounded in numerous anecdotes of individual scientists’ work. The relevant scientific history blends nicely with the history of life. Throughout, we see oxygen generated by oxygenic photosynthesis, consumed by oxidative phosphorylation, with leftovers drifting up into the atmosphere to eventually produce the planet that supports human civilization and much else besides.

From Neil's list on bioenergetics or how life makes a living.