Amazon.co.uk Review
Tackling her topic roughly by the different roles that dust plays, Holmes alternately devotes chapters to specks of space dust ("They're everywhere," gushes one scientist she interviews, " ... you eat them all the time. Any carpet would have 'em"); Oviraptor-burying desert dust, particles of dust that go up instead of down (like sea salt and soot); and foreign pollution that heeds no borders (apparently, "Beijing fog" can be bad enough to cause traffic accidents). She saves the best for last with a couple of chapters on "unsavoury characters" and "microscopic monsters", finding danger in the obvious (cigarettes and vermiculite mines) and the not so obvious (hot tubs and humidifiers). And you don't even want to know what's in pig dust.
We're swimming in it, we're covered with it, we might very well have come from it, and--surely, eventually--we'll become it. So we really don't have much an excuse for not knowing more about it. Thankfully, Holmes is there, in the field and in the lab, with wide-eyed curiosity and a scientific eye for detail. And, "perhaps by tuning in to the news bulletins issued by some of the planet's smallest reporters" we can all have a better sense of how things are going for the whole. --Paul Hughes
Review
In The Secret Life of Dust, Holmes tell us that the substance–which comes in a bewildering array of shapes, sizes and compositions–may also be responsible for the extinction of several species, including the dinosaurs and, perhaps in time, our own. Holmes′ fascinating and deeply researched account assembles the views of a number of scientists who devoted their career to studying this omnipresent substance.
Dust coalesced billions of years ago to form the first stars, which in turn manufactured heavier atoms such as carbon, the basic building block of terrestrial life. When stars explode, they shatter into huge glowing clouds of gas and dust that become nurseries for new stars. Dark clouds of interstellar dust, though, can block earthbound telescopes and obscure these and other celestial marvels.
A good deal of dust is manmade. As Holmes reveals, people don′t just create it through agriculture and industry. Like Pigpen in the Peanuts comic strip, each of us walks the earth in a cloud of dust, shedding fragments of skin and bits of lint torn from our clothes through friction. With all that dust around, Holmes′ look at the hazard it can pose is rather unsettling. A more immediate threat than some far–off nuclear winter, dust of various kinds kills people every day all over the world. Lung diseases such as silicosis affect desert dwellers who inhale tiny sand particles; people contract cancer from secondhand smoke; and babies play on floors that are the inevitable destination of gravity–bound lead and chemical dusts.
A welcome addition to The Secret Life of Dust is an appendix of Web sites that illustrate Holmes′ intriguing revelations about the topic. A gifted writer, Holmes turns a seemingly unremarkable substance into the stuff of a great story.(Gregory Harris, BookPage August 2001)
Can the ordinary subject of dust lead to discussions of planetary evolution, allergies, lung disease, dinosaurs, and pollution? Holmes, a writer for the Discovery Channel Online and contributor to Outside, Sierra, and other magazines, enthusiastically show that it can, covering these areas and other in her enjoyable new book. Inspired by a trip to the Gobi Desert, during which she was inundated with dust, Holmes explores how dust has been crucial in the birth of the planets, how it affects the earth′s environment and weather, and how humans create it as well. Out to communicate straight facts and science, she considers technical points in language that is clear and comprehensible even for those lacking a science background. In addition the bibliography, Holmes provides a listing of web sites for each chapter so that readers may easily obtain current information and graphics. Who would have known so much can come from so little? Strongly recommended for all popular science collections. (Michael D. Cramer, Raleigh, NC, Library Journal, July 2001)
"A fascinating journey into the unseen flecks that underpin our world and those beyond. Holmes mixes playful language and a refreshing tongue–in–cheek humor with revealing detail and compelling stories from the field of dust science. Goes down as easy as the 150,000 dust motes you breathed while reading this." (Peter Tyson Author of The Eighth Continent)
"a gifted writer, Holmes turns a seemingly unremarkable substance into the stuff of a great story." (BookPage August 2001)
"A fascinating journey into the unseen flecks that underpin our world and those beyond." (Peter Tyson Author of The Eighth Continent)
"Holmes is a science writer to watch. Who ever thought dust could so shine?" (Kirkus Reviews)
"...a great read..." (Focus, November 2001)
"It′s an entertaining little book .... After reading the Secret Life of Dust, the fluff in your vacuum cleaner will never look quite the same again". (New Scientist, 15 September 2001)
"...an eye opening plunge into a fascinating, nearly invisible world." (www.discover.com 20 December 2001)
"...Holmes on dust is riveting..." (New Scientist, 22 June 2002)
"...an unusual perspective on things we don′t notice..." (The Sunday Times (Culture Supplement) 23 June 2002)
"...it might just be fodder for your duster, but a new book, The Secret life of Dust, shows that theere′s a lot more to those annoying little specks than we think..." (Scotland′s Weekly News, 2 November 2002)
Peter Tyson Author of The Eighth Continent
Kirkus Reviews
Focus, November 2001
discover.com 20 December 2001
New Scientist, 22 June 2002
The Sunday Times (Culture Supplement) 23 June 2002
Product Description
Some see dust as dull and useless stuff. But in the hands of author Hannah Holmes, it becomes a dazzling and mysterious force; Dust, we discover, built the planet we walk upon. And it tinkers with the weather and spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of it rise annually into the air––the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T–shirts, and fireplace soot. Eventually, though, all this dust must settle.
The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, drills into Antarctic glaciers, filters living dusts from the wind, and probes the dark underbelly of the living–room couch. Along the way, Holmes introduces a delightful cast of characters––the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendents are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles, or venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, however, all of them unveil the mayhem and magic wrought by little things.
Hannah Holmes (Portland, ME) is a science and natural history writer for the Discovery Channel Online. Her freelance work has been widely published, appearing in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, National Geographic Traveler, and Escape. Her broadcast work has been featured on Living on Earth and the Discovery Channel Online′s Science Live.
From the Inside Flap
Some see dust as dull stuff, useless at best, and sneeze–inducing at worst. But in the hands of writer Hannah Holmes, dust becomes a dazzling and mysterious force. As Holmes says, dust is a messenger, and air is its medium. And by the end of this fascinating journey through The Secret Life of Dust, we cannot help but agree.
Humble dust, we discover, built the very planet we walk upon. It tinkers with the weather and it spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of tiny particles rise into the air annually–the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T–shirts, and fireplace soot. And eventually, of course, all this dust must settle.
The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, digs into Antarctic glaciers–and probes the dark underbelly of the living–room couch. And there is good company on this journey: Holmes gathers for us a delightful, and, by necessity, highly inventive, cast of characters–the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendants are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles; and still others venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, all of them unveil the mayhem–and the magic–wrought by little things.
From the Back Cover
"Hannah Holmes is a science writer to watch. Who ever thought dust could so shine?"–– Kirkus Reviews
