AN OCEAN OF AIR puts forth an extremely interesting premise - that the air all around us is actually akin to a body of water.  One can easily picture the visual that author Gabrielle Walker offers in the introduction, the air and the ocean switching places, all of us walking in "nothing" and breathing in water.  Throughout the book, the nothingness of air is proven to be fallacy as Walker delineates the different composite elements, the amazing powers it possesses, and the materials it provides to fuel imaginative and scientific endeavors.  We learn of historical and modern scientists, in many fields, who have used air to further their research and change their theories in exciting ways.  The book truly covers its topic in intimate detail answering any question the reader may have about air and its science.

If only the lyricism found in the occupational anecdotes could permeate the entire book.  AN OCEAN OF AIR is proficient with facts and the aforementioned individual accounts.  However, it reads more like a catalog of the wonders of air than a cohesive scientific narrative.  There are more facts than one can possibly remember in one reading.  The sheer wealth of this information is extremely impressive.  But the mass of knowledge can not mask the very dry delivery of the bigger points and concepts.