Popular Science Review

Home Authors Books Subjects Events Software Features Links Newsletter Gifts Blog Write Review What's New

Review - Oxygen: the Molecule that made the World - Nick Lane

The quote on the front cover is "one of the most thought provoking books I have ever read," which is quite legitimate provided you finish the sentence with "... and also one of the most irritating."

We'll come back to why in a moment, but first let's get over the initial feeling of being cheated. Chemistry rarely gets a look-in in popular science, and I was quite excited to see a book on one of the most fascinating of the elements - only to discover that it's a biology book in disguise. There's no disputing that the book's subject is fascinating, and a more honest title (like "How Living Things React to Oxygen") might have been less striking - but the fact is I genuinely felt cheated.

Once that feeling is overcome, this is a hugely meaty book on the relationship between life and oxygen that plunges back through to the earliest appearance of life on Earth and plunges into fascinating detail on topics like the action of Vitamin C (which is oxygen related, though not in the simplistic anti-oxidant way it is sometimes portrayed). It is, indeed a tour de force, or as the lead quote on the back puts it, "a piece of radical scientific polemic".

But.

The fact has to be faced that vast tracts of this book verge on the unreadable to anyone other than a biologist. It's hard to pin down exactly why. Sometimes it's the sheer weight of detail, going into research paper after paper in a way that's fine for another paper, but it sure ain't popular science. Elsewhere it's the almost hypnotic repetitiveness. This is popular science (which is what it says on the back of the book) in the sense that Ibsen is soap opera.

Often in the past when a book like this has appeared I've suggested that it would have been better with a co-author who could write. But this is a more complex problem - because Nick Lane indubitably can write. There are some great short sections (often at the start of chapters) where he really captures the imagination and makes you want to read on - only to hit another morass.

If you are interested in a striking view on oxygen's Jekyll/Hyde role inside our bodies (and other lifeforms) I doubt there's a better book, but you will need a huge dose of patience to see you through.

Also in hardback:

Reviewed by Peter Spitz

DISCLAIMERS

This site has no connection with Popular Science magazine or other sites and publications with a similar name.

Much of the content of this site is written by popular science writers or friends of popular science writers. Inevitably many of the reviews in such a small community are written by or about someone we know. We always aim to be impartial in our reviews, but there is a connection which we need make clear, as there is no intention to deceive. The content of any review or article is solely the opinion of the author and should not be read or understood on any other basis. The site exists to promote popular science writing and popular science authors and for this reason should be considered promotional material, just as the editorial reviews in an online bookshop or the blurb on the back of a book should be considered promotional.

The website should not be eaten or used where it can come into contact with water.

Disagree with our review? Want to comment on a feature? Contact us at info@ popularscience.co.uk - have your say!

Part of the site