Roston, Eric.  The carbon age: how life's core element has become civilization's greatest threat.  Walker & Company, 2008.  309p bibl index afp ISBN 0-8027-1557-5, $26.00; ISBN 9780802715579, $26.00.
46-3803  QH344  2008-2754 CIP
 
Fresh from six years covering technology, science, and energy for Time magazine, Roston has written his first book—a winner and a keeper. He begins by outlining the nuclear reactions that form carbon inside large stars. Although schoolchildren commonly understand that carbon is the skeletal element that holds biomass together and climate change researchers know that the Earth's carbon cycle plays a major role as a greenhouse gas, Roston sees carbon's abundance and widespread distribution as an important starting point that creates an opportunity for the synthesis of organic molecules and the creation of life itself. Roston's assertion that carbon is generated by the nuclear fusion of three helium nuclei is strongly supported by eminent scientists such as Fred Hoyle, who was at Caltech in the 1950s. Hoyle disproved elements of George Gamow's big bang hypothesis in 1953 by demonstrating that the birthplace of the element carbon is the interior of stars that reach temperatures of 100 million K (kelvin). The nuclear fusion origin of carbon is convincing and understandable, though later chapters addressing evolution, cyanobacteria, photosynthesis, and organic molecules require patience and some chemical knowledge. However, the final chapter becomes a convincing, easy read and offers a pathway to sustainable living. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — R. M. Ferguson, emeritus, Eastern Connecticut State University