The Invention of Air: The Invention of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution, And The Birth Of America (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781594484018)

From the bestselling author of How We Got To Now, The Ghost Map and Farsighted, a new national bestseller: the "exhilarating"( Los Angeles Times) story of Joseph Priestley, "a founding father long forgotten"(Newsweek) and a brilliant man who embodied the relationship between science, religion, and politics for America's Founding Fathers.

In The Invention of Air, national bestselling author Steven Johnson tells the fascinating story of Joseph Priestley--scientist and theologian, prot g of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson--an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the uses of oxygen, scientific experimentation, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the United States. As he did so masterfully in The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson uses a dramatic historical story to explore themes that have long engaged him: innovative strategies, intellectual models, and the way new ideas emerge and spread, and the environments that foster these breakthroughs.

Author: Steven Johnson
ISBN-10: 1594484015
ISBN-13: 9781594484018
Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
Language: English
Published: 09/01/2009
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.59lbs
Size: 8.22h x 5.46w x 0.65d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 11/08/2009 pg. 36