CAESAR'S LAST BREATH Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us

Sam Kean opens with the classic argument that the "ghosts of breaths past" are still in the air we breathe today. It's not just Julius Caesar's assassination that's recalled by the gases of our atmosphere, though. Narrator Ben Sullivan makes the stories of scientists like James Watt, Joseph Priestley, and Alfred Nobel entertaining, reading with humor, humanity, and drama. Whether it's the twisted story of laughing gas, with its permutations as a hallucinogen and an anesthetic, or the horrible use of chlorine gas in WWI, there's always a human angle linked to gases. Even listeners who get nothing from the mathematics of molecules will be fascinated by the history recounted and the people who lived it. J.A.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2017]