“The Haber-Bosch process is the most important chemical discovery of the twentieth century. By doubling the amount of disposable nitrogen, it provoked the demographic explosion that took the human population from 1.6 to 7 billion in fewer than one hundred years.”
pickI loved this odd book. It‘s a mashup of fact & fiction featuring real life 20th century mathematicians, chemists and physicists and imagining their brush with or full on free fall into madness as a result of trying to access the key of all things; the rules of the universe. The folly of trying to understand the divine leads to disastrous consequences and gives humans access to power they don‘t really understand. I‘m not sure I 100% got it all. 🤯
BkClubCare, Flaneurette, Megabooks, Cinfhen, Mindyrecycles, Suet624, Chelsea.Poole, alisiakae, kwmg40, squirrelbrain, BarbaraBB, thebluestocking, sarahbarnes
so-soAfter seeing rave reviews on this Man Booker International shortlister, I had high hopes going in. I think this book was well done, just not for me. It follows the imagined lives of several pivotal scientists as they make the discoveries that made them famous and how they go mad trying to understand the world around them. Parts were interesting and parts were boring, but even though I am in the minority, I am just glad the book was short.
WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD. | 
