Writing on Air

""Air is a spiritual barometer. It cannot help but inspire,"" writes poet John Olson of the insubstantial medium in which we move and breathe. This delightful collection brings together prose, poetry and illustrations on the subject of air. The art is particularly creative: how, after all, does one visualize the invisible? These artists manage to do so, with images of a hot-air balloon; clouds; the impact of a strong wind on a now-tilting structure; and a man lying on the ground, face up, his arms pointed above him as though he were about to dive into the sky. Scientists Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann offer a playlet in which Antoine Lavoisier, Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele argue over which one of them was the first to discover oxygen; naturalist David Lukas describes air that""is far from empty,"" full of dust motes, fibers of spider silk and more; and philosopher David Appelbaum considers the laugh,""a bubble drive heavenward by a physics of effervescence."" This rich collection will spark the imagination of anyone eager to consider one of our most essential elements.