The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things
Some see dust as dull and useless stuff. But in the hands of author Hannah Holmes, it becomes a dazzling and mysterious force; Dust, we discover, built the planet we walk upon. And it tinkers with the weather and spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of it rise annually into the air--the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T-shirts, and fireplace soot. Eventually, though, all this dust must settle.
The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, drills into Antarctic glaciers, filters living dusts from the wind, and probes the dark underbelly of the living-room couch.
We earn a commission for purchases made through the following links.
Book details
- Author
- Hannah Holmes
- Imprint
- Trade Paper Press, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Pages
- 254
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Science › Earth Sciences
- Topics
- earth sciences · weather and climate · cosmos and space · natural history · atmosphere · geology
- ISBN-13
- 9780471426356 (Paperback)9781630262273 (Hardcover)
About the author
HANNAH HOLMES is an American writer, journalist, and science commentator and the author of four books. Her recent books include Quirk: Brain Science Makes Sense of Your Peculiar Personality, The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself and Suburban Safari.
Holmes holds a B.A. from the University of Southern Maine. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Discover and Outside, and she has served as a science commentator for Maine Things Considered and as a contributor to Discovery Channel Online.
When she’s not writing, Holmes continues to engage with science and nature subjects across print, broadcast, and digital media. That same curiosity about the natural world and human biology runs throughout her books.
Hannah lives in Portland, Maine.