Written by John F. Marra, Hot Carbon is a non-fiction novel that looks at how carbon, and carbon-14 in particular, has shaped what is our modern world and how research has developed in the field, and the variety of fields that carbon-14 effects.
With some personal anecdotes (including the opening scene), Marra paints for us how influential carbon-14 is and how little we realize the large effect it has. I have a background in chemical engineering – emphasis on the chemical – but in the field that I work in, we deal a lot with carbon, but not carbon-14.
In research, however, carbon-14 is so influential. It is a way to, more often indirectly, measure a variety of things. From dating to the energy production of plants. It is amazing.
And yes, that is all the detail I will go into, because this is a book worth reading. It reads easily and well – more so after the initial little story – and does a fantastic job of bringing this important isotope into the real of discussion for those who don’t have a background in chemistry.
I did receive a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
