The Alchemy of Air

A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler

By: Thomas Hager

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the discovery that changed billions of lives - including your own.

At the dawn of the 20th century, humanity was facing global disaster. Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world's scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: the brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and the reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch.

Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives. Their invention continues to feed us today; without it, more than two billion people would starve.

But their epochal triumph came at a price we are still paying. The Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and high explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. Both men were vilified during their lives; both, disillusioned and disgraced, died tragically. Today we face the other unintended consequences of their discovery - massive nitrogen pollution and a growing pandemic of obesity.

The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of two master scientists who saved the world only to lose everything and of the unforseen results of a discovery that continue to shape our lives in the most fundamental and dramatic of ways.

©2008 Thomas Hager (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This scientific adventure spans two world wars and every cell in your body." ( Discover magazine)

“I know of few other books that provide the general reader with a better portrait of chemistry as the most useful of sciences, and I intend to recommend it to scientists and non-scientists alike.” ( The Journal of Chemical Education)

The part of World War II you never hear about.

I've read\listened to hundreds of books and this has to be in the top five as far as opening my eyes to things about history that I was never aware of. Spoiler alert.. 50% of the nitrogen atoms in your body were put there by the men in this book. Also Hitler... If you like science, history, and geopolitics, this book has a little bit of all of that. Enjoy.

Even Better than The Demon Under the Microscope

This book has changed my life because it has finally made me understand the perils that lie ahead of us as we try to feed ourselves after oil gets harder to produce. Hager is just a genius.

What a great history ...

This is so great and a testament to great innovations but also how excess can eventually kill us if we don't recognize it soon enough.

Avert one global disaster/cause another

II can not say anything more about this book than has already been said in previous reviews. It is definitely "Rifting" and an important piece of work. Fritz Habor and Carl Bosch changed the world forever. For the good, the bad, and even worse. Because of them we skirted one global disaster but their invention and work has created another global disaster. It is now our problem to solve, if it can be solved.

Most of the people in the world are alive today and have plenty to eat because of them. That is the good news. The world has now become over populated It will continue to get worse. There is no turning back the clock nor is there anyway way to change the course we are on. That is the bad news. The Habor/Bosch plants are a major contributor, not only to our population problem, but also the "Global Warming" issue. That is the "worse" news.

Haber and Bosch were geniuses and they both paid the price in their personal, as well as professionals, life's. We have them to thank for our "Horn of Plenty". Unfortunately it was not controlled or managed. I do not think anyone could have had the foresight to imagine where their inventions and work would lead. Even it they did they probably would not have been able to do anything to change where it has lead us.

I want to thank the author for taking the time to do the thorough research it took to write this book. It is a gift to all of us. Also, if it weren't for Audible I do not think I would have known about or bought this book.

There are few that put together the synergy of sci

What made the experience of listening to The Alchemy of Air the most enjoyable?

There are few that put together the synergy of science, commerce, and their places in history so well as Thomas Hager. I bought Demon Under the Microscope at a sale price, and consider one of the best reads in decades. Alchemy of Air is equally absorbing.

I have taught physics and engineering at university for years, and I try and make history and commerce part of the background in my courses. Personalities and economic pressures do shape the course of technology and as Mr. Hager points out, not always for the better. I hope Mr. Hager continues these pursuits, and might consider exploring the threads of more physics, chemistry, and engineering.

loved this book and story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes; important story that was told very well

What did you like best about this story?

the importance to human development

What about Adam Verner’s performance did you like?

clear

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

good from beginning to end

Any additional comments?

important to know

Glad I got this book

Not an everyday subject but one that is important to everyone, this book explained a lot and helped answer a lot of questions I had about the rise of Hitler and the prosperity of a lot of us throughout the 20th Century.

Lively Industrial History, Worth Knowing About

Hager traces the development of nitrogen as an industrial product first from the mines of Chile and Peru in the early 19th century through all the way through the Third Reich and tells the tales of the people involved all the way. The book is lively and worth hearing/reading as a way of improving one's general knowledge of history and the world we live in.

I'm not sure about the subtitle of the book. I think the story deals with many characters over the course of centuries. Although the story comes to a natural conclusion with the demise of the Third Reich, the Saltpeter Wars and WWI are probably more important to the whole book. Alas, maybe it's just that anything claiming to be about Hitler's rise to power is guaranteed to sell more copies.

The reader makes a surprising number of mistakes with people's names (e.g. is it Le, La or Les Rossignole?) and place names (e.g. Auschwitz, not Aus-witch), not to mention with some ordinary words (e.g. "soldering.") He does a good job of reading generally. I liked listening to him. But mispronouncing things that are easy to look up is unfortunate.

exceptional

One of my favorite science stories. The consequences of the Haber Bosch process are still reverberating today.

Great story, narrator could be better.

I got sucked into the story really fast. the narration and German pronunciation could be improved and I had to look the words up half the time.