KIRKUS
REVIEWS
Dust.
It's
a
blessing
and
a
curse-and
it
gets
the
undivided,
brightly
humorous
yet
astute
attention
of
Discovery
Channel
Online
science
writer
Holmes.
It
might
be
measured
in
microns-and
microns
are
the
kind
of
thing
you
count
on
the
head
of
a
pin-but
dust
has
swept
away
whole
civilizations,
burying
dinosaurs
so
fast
that
they
never
got
off
their
nests
and
suffocating
all
those
folks
you
see
in
Pompeii,
caught
forever
with
a
cry
on
their
lips.
Dust
is
everywhere
and
unstoppable,
Holmes
notes:
Every
breath
you
take
brings
150,000
to
1
million
specks-depending
on
the
grubbiness
of
your
environment-into
circulation
in
your
lungs.
Many
will
wash
out
on
the
tide
of
exhalation,
but
not
a
lot
of
those
industrial
dusts,
or
asbestos
dust,
or
quartz
dust-all
of
which
stay
to
kill
you.
Then
again,
Holmes
is
quick
to
admit,
don't
discount
those
dust
bunnies
skulking
under
the
sofa
that
"contain
everything
from
space
diamonds
to
Saharan
dust
to
the
bones
of
dinosaurs
and
bits
of
modern
tire
rubber."
Then
again
still,
dust
fires
the
hydraulic
cycle
and
gives
birth
to
the
stars
and
the
heavenly
bodies;
every
patch
of
the
Earth
is
made
of
melted
dust.
The
author
looks
at
dust
in
a
host
of
its
limitless
manifestations,
and
she
profiles
the
scientists
taking
its
measure
and
examining
its
consequences.
She
touches
upon
intriguing
questions
yet
unanswered:
Did
dust
start
the
Ice
Age?
Did
it
end
it?
Does
dust
help
suppress
asthma?
Does
space
dust
form
noctilucent
clouds?
Chances
are
good
that
readers
will
never
use
an
"air
freshener"
again,
nor
choose
to
live
downwind
of
a
pig
farm,
nor
be
real
impressed
with
government
control
of
carcinogenic
quartz
dust:
"Europeancountries
severely
restricted
the
use
of
quartz
sand
for
sandblasting
about
fifty
years
ago.
The
U.S.
government
attempted
to
follow
suit
in
1974
but
was
overridden
by
the
painting
and
sandblasting
industries."
Holmes
is
a
science
writer
to
watch.
Who
ever
thought
dust
could
so
shine?
BOOKLIST
To
document
the
surprising
powers
of
dust,
Holmes
has
burrowed
deep
into
a
dozen
disciplines,
so
turning
a
substance
that
we
normally
just
sneeze
at
into
a
mysterious
and
fascinating
force.
Thanks
to
Holmes'
tireless
research,
we
learn,
for
instance,
how
comet
dust
may
have
cradled
the
first
life
on
Earth
and
how
man-made
dust
now
threatens
to
snuff
out
much
of
what
the
primal
dust
once
made
possible.
Holmes
allows
us
to
ride
the
wild
currents
of
the
planet's
great
dust
rivers
from
the
Sahara
to
Boise,
from
New
Mexico
to
Bermuda,
and
she
invites
us
to
peer
into
the
microworld
of
dust-borne
mites,
bacteria,
and
viruses.
But
the
same
investigation
that
unravels
dust's
ancient
riddles
also
delivers
a
big
modern
warning:
human
activity
is
making
dust
more
lethal
than
ever
before.
The
controversy
over
how
to
deal
with
this
growing
health
threat
will
keep
this
book
passing
from
hand
to
hand,
ensuring
that
for
all
it
has
to
teach
about
dust,
this
volume
will
collect
none
of
it
on
the
library
shelf.
Bryce
Christensen
Copyright
©
American
Library
Association.
The
author
at
the
Aventis
Prize
for
Science
Books
Awards
Ceremony
