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Symphony in C - Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R529
Discovery Miles 5 290
You Save: R165
(24%)
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Symphony in C - Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything (Hardcover)
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List price R694
Loot Price R529
Discovery Miles 5 290
You Save R165 (24%)
Supplier out of stock. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.
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Carbon is everywhere: in the paper of this book and the blood of
our bodies. It's with us from beginning to end, present in our baby
clothes and coffin alike. We live on a carbon planet, and we are
carbon life. No other element is so central to our well-being; yet,
when missing or misaligned, carbon atoms can also bring about
disease and even death. At once ubiquitous and mysterious, carbon
holds the answers to some of humanity's biggest questions. Where
did Earth come from? What will ultimately become of it-and of us?
With poetic storytelling, earth scientist Robert M. Hazen explores
the universe to discover the past, present, and future of life's
most essential element. We're not only "made of star stuff," as
Carl Sagan famously observed, but "Big Bang stuff," too. Hazen
reveals that carbon's grand symphony began with a frenzied prelude
shortly after the dawn of creation, bringing new attention to the
tiny number of Big Bang-created carbon atoms that often get
overlooked. In minutes, violently colliding protons and neutrons
improbably formed the first carbon atoms, which can still be found
within our bodies. His book then unfolds in four movements,
building momentum as he explores carbon as the element of Earth,
Air, Fire, and Water. He visits the famed volcanic crater Solfatara
di Pozzuoli near Naples, where venting carbon dioxide and other
noxious fumes condense into beautiful crystals. He climbs the
cliffs of the Scottish Highlands and delves deep into the
precious-metal mines of Namibia, journeying toward Earth's
mysterious core in search of undocumented carbon structures. Hazen
often asks us to pause and consider carbon's role in climate change
and what we can do about it, for our lives and this element are
inextricably intertwined. With prose that sparkles like a diamond,
Symphony in C tells the story of carbon, in which we all have a
part.
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