Caesar's Last Breath

Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us

By: Sam Kean

Narrated by: Ben Sullivan

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

The fascinating science and history of the air we breathe.

It's invisible. It's ever present. Without it, you would die in minutes. And it has an epic story to tell.

In Caesar's Last Breath, New York Times best-selling author Sam Kean takes us on a journey through the periodic table, around the globe, and across time to tell the story of the air we breathe, which, it turns out, is also the story of earth and our existence on it.

With every breath, you literally inhale the history of the world. On the Ides of March, 44 BC, Julius Caesar died of stab wounds on the Senate floor, but the story of his last breath is still unfolding; in fact you're probably inhaling some of it now. Of the sextillions of molecules entering or leaving your lungs at this moment, some might well bear traces of Cleopatra's perfumes, German mustard gas, particles exhaled by dinosaurs or emitted by atomic bombs, even remnants of stardust from the universe's creation.

Tracing the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere, Kean reveals how the alchemy of air reshaped our continents, steered human progress, powered revolutions, and continues to influence everything we do. Along the way we'll swim with radioactive pigs, witness the most important chemical reactions humans have discovered, and join the crowd at the Moulin Rouge for some of the crudest performance art of all time. Lively, witty, and filled with the astounding science of ordinary life, Caesar's Last Breath illuminates the science stories swirling around us every second.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Sam Kean (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Superb book all round!!!

The main title of the book is misleading as to what is contained in the book; this prevented me from listening to it sooner. This is a superb book! Sam Kean is an excellent writer who makes complex scientific ideas very simple both for professional scientists like me and for the public. The scientific facts are interlaced with stories of the discoverers and very many interesting scientific anecdotes. The humour is terrific even for a serious, typically terse scientific subject.

Ben Sullivan's narration elevates Kean's writing to another level--perfect tone and speed.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading other books by Kean.

Worth a listen

I found the whole book quite interesting, but disjointed. Being a science geek, all the interesting facts in the book were sufficient to help me ignore the lack of a core theme to the whole project. It wasn't really about "all the air around us" all the way through the book, but I found it quite good nonetheless!

Excellent

The writer did an amazing amount of research to put together this engaging book. If you are interested in science, this book is an excellent choice. It is not just a listing of cold scientific facts and important breakthroughs. It also includes interesting and sometimes hilarious tangents related to the subject. The performer also does a great job moving the story along and matching his tone to the writer's. It is altogether enjoyable.

Great Book

Very scientific, historical, and informative. 10/10
the rest of this is to make the

Great listen

Another Sam Kean’s masterfully written book. Great narration and a fun listen. There are some stories that are just fun listening to again and again.
It’s great even if you are not in sciences but are just interested about things around you!

Great Stories on the be Air We Breathe

Sam Lean never fails to surprise and entertain me with intriguing stories that I could have overlooked.

vastly entertaining

Sam makes science fun and accessible via great story telling. You won't regret reading any of his books. They all entertain and inform.

Science + Entertainment = Education the fun way

Not being that interested in the Sciences, I was amazed to find that, with Sam Kean's excellent naration, and the facinating stories in Caesar's Last Breath, I was totally absorbed, and left to wonder what took me so long to discover the extraordinary role gasses play in our daily lives. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor and a grain of curiosity about how we, and the world around us, function..

Listen even if you hate science and math

Whether you love science and math or those subjects stress you out you'll love this book. Whichever group you are in this is a book that you'll probably want to listen to more than once. You'll probably learn something new each time your read (or listen) to it.

It reminded me a little bit of James Burkes "Connections" TV series. The author does a great job of making the science understandable to everyone. Most notably by using examples and analogies that most people can identify with. And like "Connections" it explains how each discovery made another discovery or invention possible. Usually in ways that could not have been predicted.

What little math is present is mostly of the form "you inhaled three trillion atoms of nitrogen". So if you have even a vague idea what terms like "trillion" and "million" mean you'll be fine. It tells absolutely fascinating stories about how we've come to know so much about the air around us. Not to mention how that knowledge has improved our lives.

I loved this book!

This book makes you travel through the world of gases and the history of each one that is, somehow, relatated to human life and evolution. But different from others, the autor guides our travel with passion for science, willing to transmit knowledge and, Le P tomane, a lot of sense of humor. Seriously, there is a chapter about every gas important to us and the history behind them! Highly recommended!