博客來我們每天吸入兩千加侖的空氣——以及數以千計的生物！肉眼難以感知的微生物，廣泛地分布在地面到平流層，就在我們周圍的空氣中！然而在生物學的領域中，它們卻仍然相當地神秘，科學家們甚至得花上兩年的時間才能達成共識，宣告新冠疫情正是藉由空氣，導致病毒大規模傳播、快速擴散的。
本書回溯大氣生物學的先驅，默默無名的科學家們的貢獻。不諱言地揭露大氣生物學的陰暗面，生動描寫美國、蘇聯強權之爭，競相秘密建造生物武器庫的歷史，包含能藉由空氣散播的炭疽病、天花以及其他病原體，對人類的健康帶來巨大的威脅，觸及的議題至關重要，又令人不安。作者同時也在書中帶讀者一同認識大氣生物的奧妙，了解海洋和森林如何將上兆個細胞送入空氣中，讓豐沛的生命，藉此隨風飄蕩了數千里。
令人屏息的事證，加上卓越的科學寫作技巧，每一頁都令人驚奇，並能獲得啟發。(文/博客來編譯)
專業推薦：
- 「魚感受不到水，正如人類感受不到空氣。空氣中蘊藏了無數的微生物，本書作者以出色的文筆，回溯它的歷史，包括迷人的科學、高瞻遠矚卻仍判斷失準的科學家，以及微生物曾為人類帶來的巨大傷痛……」——神經生物學家，《命定》（Determined）和《行為》（Behave）作者羅伯．薩波斯基（Robert M. Sapolsky）
- 「作者擅長觀察細微之處，卻能以宏大的視角進行思考。本書在兩個層面都展現了迷人之處。從第一頁起，就能感受到自己正與一位大師同行。」——科普類暢銷書《爭分奪秒》（Breathless）作者大衛．逵曼 (David Quammen)。
The fascinating, untold story of the air we breathe, the hidden life it contains, and invisible dangers that can turn the world upside down
Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air—and thousands of living things. From the ground to the stratosphere, the air teems with invisible life. This last great biological frontier remains so mysterious that it took over two years for scientists to finally agree that the Covid pandemic was caused by an airborne virus.
In Air-Borne, award-winning New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer leads us on an odyssey through the living atmosphere and through the history of its discovery. We travel to the tops of mountain glaciers, where Louis Pasteur caught germs from the air, and follow Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh above the clouds, where they conducted groundbreaking experiments. We meet the long-forgotten pioneers of aerobiology including William and Mildred Wells, who tried for decades to warn the world about airborne infections, only to die in obscurity.
Air-Borne chronicles the dark side of aerobiology with gripping accounts of how the United States and the Soviet Union clandestinely built arsenals of airborne biological weapons designed to spread anthrax, smallpox, and an array of other pathogens. Air-Borne also leaves readers looking at the world with new eyes—as a place where the oceans and forests loft trillions of cells into the air, where microbes eat clouds, and where life soars thousands of miles on the wind.
Weaving together gripping history with the latest reporting on Covid and other threats to global health, Air-Borne surprises us on every page as it reveals the hidden world of the air.
