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A World on Fire by Joe Jackson

A World on Fire

A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen

A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen

By Joe Jackson

By Joe Jackson

By Joe Jackson

By Joe Jackson

Best Seller
Paperback $16.00

Feb 27, 2007 | ISBN 9780143038832

Ebook $7.99

Feb 27, 2007 | ISBN 9781440695971

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    A World on Fire by Joe Jackson
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    About A World on Fire

    Like Charles Seife’s Zero and Dava Sobel’s Longitude, this passionate intellectual history is the story of the intersection of science and the human, in this case the rivals who discovered oxygen in the late 1700s. That breakthrough changed the world as radically as those of Newton and Darwin but was at first eclipsed by revolution and reaction. In chronicling the triumph and ruin of the English freethinker Joseph Priestley and the French nobleman Antoine Lavoisier—the former exiled, the latter executed on the guillotine—A World on Fire illustrates the perilous place of science in an age of unreason.

    About A World on Fire

    Like Charles Seife’s Zero and Dava Sobel’s Longitude, this passionate intellectual history is the story of the intersection of science and the human, in this case the rivals who discovered oxygen in the late 1700s. That breakthrough changed the world as radically as those of Newton and Darwin but was at first eclipsed by revolution and reaction. In chronicling the triumph and ruin of the English freethinker Joseph Priestley and the French nobleman Antoine Lavoisier—the former exiled, the latter executed on the guillotine—A World on Fire illustrates the perilous place of science in an age of unreason.

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    Also by Joe Jackson

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    About Joe Jackson

    Joe Jackson is the author of four works of nonfiction and a novel. He was an investigative reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot for 12 years, covering criminal justice and the state’s death row. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He… More about Joe Jackson

    About Joe Jackson

    Joe Jackson is the author of four works of nonfiction and a novel. He was an investigative reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot for 12 years, covering criminal justice and the state’s death row. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He… More about Joe Jackson

    Product Details

    Category: Science | Biography & Memoir | History

    Paperback | $16.00
    Published by Penguin Books
    Feb 27, 2007 | 448 Pages | 5-1/2 x 8-7/16 | ISBN 9780143038832

    Category: Science | Biography & Memoir | History

    Ebook | $7.99
    Published by Penguin Books
    Feb 27, 2007 | 432 Pages | ISBN 9781440695971

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    Praise

    An exhilarating narrative, sweeping us through great discoveries and international rivalries, yet strengthened by meticulous research and analysis. (Jenny Uglow, author of The Lunar Men)

    This tale of eminent scientists victimized by political ideology is told with passion and a splendid attention to vivid detail. (Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times)

    Table Of Contents

    A World On FirePrologue: God in the Air

    Part I: Problem

    1. The Cloth-Dresser’s Son
    2. The Sums and Receipts of Parallel Worlds
    3. The Gas in the Beer
    4. The Prodigy
    5. The Goodness of Air
    6. The Problem of Burning

    Part II: Solution

    7. The Sentimental Journey
    8. The Mouse in the Jar
    9. The Twelve Days
    10. The Language of War
    11. “King Mob”
    12. The World Out of Joint
    13. The New World

    Epilogue: The Burning World

    Dramatis Personae
    Chronology
    Glossary of Chemical, Historical, and Scientific Terms
    Notes
    Bibliography
    Acknowledgments
    Index

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