Symphony in C: Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything

An enchanting biography of the most resonant-and most necessary-chemical element on Earth.



Carbon. It's in the fibers in your hair, the timbers in your walls, the food that you eat, and the air that you breathe. It's worth billions as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity, but there are still mysteries yet to be solved about the element that can be both diamond and coal. Where does it come from, what does it do, and why, above all, does life need it?



With poetic storytelling, earth scie...