Overview

The extent to which water remains a scientific mystery is extraordinary, despite its prevalence and central importance on Earth. Whether one considers its role in biology, its place in the physical world (where it refuses to obey the usual rules of liquids) or its deceptively simple structure, there is still no complete answer to the question: what is water Philip Ball's book explains what, exactly, we do and do not know about the strange character of this most essential and ubiquitous of substances. H20 begins by transporting its readers back to the Big Bang and the formation of galaxies to witness the birth of water's constituent elements: hydrogen and oxygen. It then explains how the primeval oceans were formed four billion years ago; where water is to be found on other planets; why ice floats when most solids sink; why, despite being highly corrosive, water is good for us; why there are at least fifteen kinds of ice and perhaps two kinds of liquid water; how scientists have consistently misunderstood water for centuries; and why wars have been waged over it. Philip Ball's gloriously offbeat and intelligent book conducts us on a journey through the history of science, folklore, the wilder scientific fringes, cutting-edge physics, biology and ecology, to give a fascinating new perspective on life and the substance that sustains it. After reading this book, drinking a glass of water will never be the same again.

Full Product Details

9780753810927

Table of Contents

Reviews

We live on a watery planet yet in many ways we know so little about H2O. Water gets the full treatment here in an exploration of all that is known about that mystical and essential substance for life. This book manages to be part science history and part cultural exploration, with a substantial dose of chemistry, physics, ecology and basic biology rolled into the mix. It provides a rare inside look at the daily goings on in science, offering an in-depth story, written with care, scholarship and erudition, and for dedicated readers there are full notes and references. Writer Ball is a senior editor at Nature and also writes for New Scienctist and other publications. His other books The Self-Made Tapestry and Designing the Molecular World have won acclaim. Brilliant in conception, this latest book is unlikely to be superceded for many years. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Philip Ball is Associate Editor for the Physical Sciences with Nature. His first book was described by the TLS as 'a tour de force of popular science writing'. His second was described by the New Scientist as 'outstanding...beautifully written. If you buy no other science book this year, I suggest you buy this one.'

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available