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A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen
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A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen Paperback - 2007

by Jackson, Joe

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  • Paperback

This gripping account of a key tipping point in the history of science is set against the upheavals of a revolutionary age. 8-page photo insert.

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Description

Penguin Books, 2007-02-27. Paperback. New.
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Details

  • Title A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen
  • Author Jackson, Joe
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Condition New
  • Pages 448
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books
  • Date 2007-02-27
  • Features Annotated, Bibliography, Index, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 0143038834_new
  • ISBN 9780143038832 / 0143038834
  • Weight 0.88 lbs (0.40 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.44 x 5.54 x 1 in (21.44 x 14.07 x 2.54 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Discoveries in science, Oxygen
  • Dewey Decimal Code 546.721

Summary

Like Charles Seife’s Zero and Dava Sobel’s Longitude, this passionate intellectual history is the story of the intersection of science and the human, in this case the rivals who discovered oxygen in the late 1700s. That breakthrough changed the world as radically as those of Newton and Darwin but was at first eclipsed by revolution and reaction. In chronicling the triumph and ruin of the English freethinker Joseph Priestley and the French nobleman Antoine Lavoisier—the former exiled, the latter executed on the guillotine—A World on Fire illustrates the perilous place of science in an age of unreason.

First line

A GOOD MEAL CHANGES EVERYTHING.

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Media reviews

An exhilarating narrative, sweeping us through great discoveries and international rivalries, yet strengthened by meticulous research and analysis. (Jenny Uglow, author of The Lunar Men)

This tale of eminent scientists victimized by political ideology is told with passion and a splendid attention to vivid detail. (Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times)

About the author

Joe Jackson is the author of four works of nonfiction and a novel. He was an investigative reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot for 12 years, covering criminal justice and the state's death row. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He can be reached through his website, joejacksonbooks.com.