The Devil's Element

Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance

By: Dan Egan

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling author on the source of great bounty—and now great peril—all over the world.

Phosphorus has played a critical role in some of the most lethal substances on earth: firebombs, rat poison, nerve gas. But it’s also the key component of one of the most vital: fertilizer, which has sustained life for billions of people. In this major work of explanatory science and environmental journalism, Pulitzer Prize finalist Dan Egan investigates the past, present, and future of what has been called “the oil of our time.”

The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. First discovered in a seventeenth-century alchemy lab in Hamburg, it soon became a highly sought-after resource. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our overreliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and “dead zones” in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide—which risks rising conflict and even war.

With The Devil’s Element, Egan has written an essential and eye-opening account that urges us to pay attention to one of the most perilous but little-known environmental issues of our time.

©2023 Dan Egan (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"In his crisply written new book…Dan Egan sounds alarms on both the scarcity and overabundance sides of the phosphorus-human equation." (Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

"[Egan] builds a story of innovation, failure, recovery, and looming catastrophe…[A] deep humanity resides in his writing." (Garin Cycholl, Chicago Review of Books)

Eye opening!

A must read if you are concerned about humanities future. Left me pondering and googling for updates. Thank you Dan Egan; and thank you Jason Culp, you kept me walking and listening!

Exceptionally well crafted

"The Devil's Element" is a captivating book that seamlessly blends history, current events, and future issues in a way that is both informative and engaging. Egan expertly weaves together the stories of early chemist scientists, the environmental and health consequences of the phosphorus industry, and modern-day efforts to mitigate damage. He explores the broader social, economic, and political implications of the phosphorus industry, and raises important questions about our collective responsibility to protect our planet and our culpability in participating in this system however unknowingly. I also thought his book about the great lakes was very well done so when I saw this has come out I picked it up immediately. It's well worth your time

Informative and entertaining

Eye opening and a good look at a more sustainable future and good ideas for future businesses

A great primer on phosphorus

Well written and entertaining. An easy read on an element that we cannot live without.

Essential Science

Powerful implications for policy, planners, engineers, and ethical
agriculturists. Easy and enlightening to read.