The Invention of Air
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15
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Bestselling author Steven Johnson recounts—in dazzling, multidisciplinary fashion—the story of the brilliant man who embodied the relationship between science, religion, and politics for America’s Founding Fathers. The Invention of Air is a book of world-changing ideas wrapped around a compelling narrative, a story of genius and violence and friendship in the midst of sweeping historical change that provokes us to recast our understanding of the Founding Fathers. It is the story of Joseph Priestley—scientist and theologian, protege of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson—an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the United States. And it is a story that only Steven Johnson, acclaimed juggler of disciplines and provocative ideas, can do justice to. In the 178 0s, Priestley had established himself in his native England as a brilliant scientist, a prominent minister, and an outspoken advocate of the American Revolution, who had sustained long correspondences with Franklin, Jefferson, and John Adams. Ultimately, his radicalism made his life politically uncomfortable, and he fled to the nascent United States. Here, he was able to build conceptual bridges linking the scientific, political, and religious impulses that governed his life. And through his close relationships with the Founding Fathers—Jefferson credited Priestley as the man who prevented him from abandoning Christianity—he exerted profound if little-known influence on the shape and course of our history. As in his last bestselling work, The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson here uses a dramatic historical story to explore themes that have long engaged him: innovation and the way new ideas emerge and spread, and the environments that foster these breakthroughs. And as he did in Everything Bad Is Good for You, Johnson upsets some fundamental assumptions about the world we live in—namely, what it means when we invoke the Founding Fathers—and replaces them with a clear-eyed, eloquent assessment of where we stand today.
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Joseph Priestley discovered carbon dioxide, breathable air, invented carbonated water, was a best friend of Benjamin Franklin and instrumental in the founding of the Unitarian movement. Nonetheless, despite living in Benjamin-Franklin-opolis (AKA Philadelphia), I had never heard of him.
Johnson's biography is fascinating - a true examination of the life, beliefs, political allegations, science and religion of Priestley. In addition, there is another book nestled above the level of the biography: a book primarily about the process of science. Johnson explores how the process of science has evolved since Priestley's time, the factors that were instrumental in setting Priestley up for success, the model of the paradigm and the development of ecosystems as a model of thought.
Interesting read. The book is somewhat split in half. Half of it tries to use the life of the protagonist as a way to explore the triggers of a “run” of innovations, while the final portion focus, in a much more fragmented and less thorough way on his relationship to questions of faith, politics, and the US. It felt a little hurried and stretched in the second half and too much time was spent on trying to laud Priestley's important role, rather than dig deeper into some of the encounters and issues involved.
