Carbon: One Atom's Odyssey

The "story" behind the "story"The detail in each piece of artworkThe moment that you look, feel and read all on each pageThe knowledge that these words and the artwork are bigger than usThe fact that the artwork is drawn with graphite which is part of Carbon......Full circleEach page, each word, each stroke of the pencil has a reason, a purpose, and a thought behind it.Take each page and read it, read it again, look at the artwork (really look at it) and just be with it.Enjoy the journey.....it truly is a masterful book.Bravo!

Like the title says, this book traces carbon from creation in a star to incorporation in a myriad of carbon based molecules, may that support life. A fascinating and edifying read. The text is backed up by some truly creative graphics. Even if you don't read a single word the book is well worth the price just for the artistry contained.

Wanted to see/read iy

Not worth the money. No new information there. I was very disappointed and was tempted to ask for a refund!

will give to 12-year old, which I should have realized, was probably the intended readership.

This is a well designed book. Pretty lovely to look at and some good info. But caveat - it is not a deep title. It is more coffee table like and less a deeper dive into Carbon.

My degree is in geology, which begs, borrows, and steals from all the other sciences - chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy.... And in geology, we are taught from the beginning how time works - slowly and over billions and billions of years. It's rather unique in that aspect. This book is a beautiful tribute to that sentiment, and like science of geology, it touches on all the other sciences as it goes.I will say that after reading the foreword, I'm pretty anxious to read Primo Levi. If Levi's writing was the nucleation point for this, it's got to be great! Barnett somehow manages to poetically teach us with his words punctuated by the stark charcoal drawings. He tries to really hammer how often a single carbon atom is recycled over the eons, and the drawing of the used plastic single-use water bottles is particularly striking.This would make a really awesome gift for a chemistry student, artist, writer, or geologist. This will resonate with so many different types of thinkers.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm not a scientist but my sister is and of course, the kids are learning science-ey things in school. All of them have enjoyed it. I'm an artist and visual person and this told a fascinating story.This book isn't some grand over-arching tome meant to replace a semester of college. it's not a textbook. It's a book meant to make you think about the progression of time, space, and things.So I would say this is not a book for the typical self-congratulatory navel-gazing academic, but will appeal instead to those with an imagination to understand the story being told here.Not a "decorative" coffee table book either. Just a thought-provoking book that I thoroughly enjoyed.