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The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things
What got me started on dust? The little subject suggested itself rather forcefully. A few years ago I was on assignment in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, writing about a dinosaur expedition. The pink-orange clouds of dust that billowed over the desert floor were impossible to ignore. The whirling specks invaded my eyes and nose. They infiltrated the pages of my books. They invaded the depths of my sleeping bag.... Since the day I stood in the Gobi Desert and contemplated the population of dust in the sky, I've come to see the air as a medium and dust as the message.... One purpose of this book is to help readers learn to decipher some of the messages in the air. Our planet sometimes seems too enormous to really comprehend. But perhaps tuning in to the news bulletins issued by some of the planet's smallest reporters can give us a better sense of hos things are going for the whole. Second, I'd be honored if I were able to introduce the reader to his own personal dusts. Never mind that each of us is constantly enveloped in a haze of our own skin flakes and disintegrating clothing. In addition to that cloud each match we strike, each light-switch we flick, and each mile we drive causes more dust to rise into the air. Taken in global quantities, our personal puffs of dust have planet-size consequences. --- excerpts from book's Introduction
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First published July 20, 2001
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August 20, 2020
Another amazing book. This is the kind of stuff that most science folks can never write about themselves because they are stuck with very narrow problems, but they can all talk to an author like Holmes who weaves together tales of cosmic dust, desert dust, ancient dust locked in ice, dust in your lungs, and how we are converted back into dust!
May 23, 2020
...::::: Karantinanın 13. Kitabından selamlar::::....
Bu kitabı okuyan kesinlikle paranoyak olur. Her yerde her zaman bir miktar toz var ve olacak; ancak bunların içeriği ve kaynağı gibi bilgiler sağlığımız için gerekli olduğundan yalnızca beni değil, okuyan herkesi kaygılı düşüncelere sevk edeceğine eminim.
Beni şaşırtan en önemli şeylerden birisi Karayip Adalarının tamamen Afrika'daki Sahra Çölü'nden gelen toz tarafından sürekli bir bombardıman edilmesi. Diğer bir şey de kesinlikte "talk pudrası" kullanmamaya karar vermem. Kışlık lastikleri yazlıklarla değiştirmeye gittiğimde muazzam tozun içinde çalışan işçileri gördüğümde dehşete düşmüştüm.
Birçok insanı endişeye sürükleyen bilgiden seçtiğim birkaç alıntıyı buraya "kendim için" aktarayım:
"....Yalnızca Çin değil, Asya kaplanının tamamının soluğu kötü kokuyor. Singapur’dan Tayland’a, Kore’den Çin’e kadar ülkeler, ekonomileri büyürken, fosil yakıtlara karşı doymak bilmez bir iştah geliştirmişlerdir. Ne yazık ki, bu yakıtların yanmasıyla ortaya çıkan dumanı filtreleyen teknolojiler pahalıdır. Bu yüzden de Bangkok’un romantik manzaraları genellikle gözleri sulandıran, boğazı tıkayan parçacıklardan oluşan bir sise bürünmüştür. Hong Kong limanında, gemiler bazen görüş mesafesini 1,5 kilometreden aza indiren sapsarı bir gaz ve toz bulutunun içinden geçerken sis düdüklerini kullanmak zorunda kalırlar...."
"...Genelde Çin’de her yıl yaklaşık bir milyon insanın havadaki ölümcül tozlar yüzünden öldüğünü söyleyebiliriz. Bu, Maine eyaletinin toplam nüfusunun her yıl tozdan zehirlenip ölmesi ve bunun durmadan tekrarlanmasından farksız..."
"...Yanardağlardan kadmiyum, talyum ve indiyum sızar. Okyanustaki kabarcıkların patlaması selenyum salınmasına yol açar. Çok miktarda silisyum ve alüminyum, kalsiyum ve demir de havaya yükselir, çünkü kayalarda bu bileşenlerden bol miktarlarda bulunmaktadır..."
"...Peki, bu fazladan çöl tozu bugünün iklimini nasıl etkiliyor? Bizi bir buz devrine doğru mu itiyor? Yoksa bir erime dönemine mi? Biscaye’in dediği gibi, çöl tozu mekanizmanın kritik önemde bir parçasıdır, fakat ısıtan bir parça mıdır yoksa soğutan bir parça mıdır, henüz anlayabilmiş değiliz..."
"....Dünya yüzeyinin her metrekaresinin ortalama 240 Watt güneş ışığı aldığını hatırlayalım. Steve Warren bugün atmosferdeki ortalama sülfür parçacığı yükünün Kuzey Yarım küreyi ortalama bir vattan fazla soğuttuğunu söylüyor...."
"...Muhs, "Resifler saf kalsiyum karbonattır,” diyor. “Kalsiyum, karbon, oksijen. Bunlar toprak oluşturmak için doğru bileşenler değildir..."
"....Bu kutuyu oluşturan alüminyumun her zerresi, yüz binlerce, hatta milyonlarca yıl önce, birer birer uçarak Sahra dan Atlantik Okyanusunu aşıp Karayipler’e gelmiştir..."
"...Büyük kıtaların "tahıl ambarlarının” haritasını çıkaracak olursanız, inen tozların en büyük bölümünü yakalayan arazilerin haritasını elde etmiş olursunuz. ABD’nin orta batı eyaletleri, Arjantin pampaları, Avrupa’nın büyük bölümü, Ukrayna, Orta Asya ve Çin’in beşte biri, yani dünyanın tozdan oluşan bütün toprakları gezegendeki tahılın beşte birini ve bunun yanı sıra hayvan yemi olan tahılları ve çayırları yetiştirir..."
"...Demek ki yere inen toz sadece Barbados’un palmiyelerini ve zambaklarını beslemekle kalmıyor. Hepimizi doyuruyor..."
"...İnsanların kanalizasyon atıkları, hayvan atıkları ve karada, kıyıya yakın bölgelerde üretilen tarımsal gübreler, hepsi de bir yoldan denize karışmaktadır. Bütün bu sözde besinler bir mercanın üstüne çöreklenerek çoğalan algleri besleyebilir...."
"...Porto Riko’da toz yağışı olduğu zaman orada bir toplantıya katılmıştım,” diye devam ediyor. “Güneşe dosdoğru bakabiliyorsunuz çünkü toz bir pus oluşturuyor. Kokusunu da alabiliyorsunuz. Toprak gibi kokuyor, tozlu bir yol gibi. Tozu hissedebiliyorsunuz. Toz yüzünden havaalanları kapatılıyor. Sahra tozunun Aspergillus yüklü olduğunu biliyoruz. Fakat gerçek şu ki, şimdiye kadar hiç kimse bu tozun içinde olması gereken diğer maddelerin kültürünü hazırlamaya çalışmadı. İçinde başka neler olduğunu görmek gerekir...."
"...Mavi küf bu tür tozlardan biridir. Tütün yetiştiricileri genellikle, bu tehdidi önlemek için haftada bir kez ürünlerini ilaçlar; bu yüzdendir ki tütün Dünya’da kimyasalların en yoğun olduğu ürünlerden biridir..."
"....Bir ülke balıklarını, ayılarını, kurbağalarını ve insanlarını zehirli toz yağmurlarından korumak istiyorsa, o ülke zehirli tozların dünyanın neresinde olursa olsun, yükselmesini engellemenin bir yolunu bulmalıdır...."
"...Her gün burnumuzdan ve ağzımızdan içeri en az bir buçuk milyar toz parçası girer; tabii eğer özellikle çok temiz bir hava soluyorsak. Çoğu insan, bu sayının kaç kat fazlasını solur. İnsan vücudu toza yabancı değildir elbette. İnsan soyu çöllerde ve mağaralarda, polenlerin bol olduğu savanalarda, nemli ve küflü ormanlarda gelişmiştir. Burnumuz ve boğazımız, doğal tozların birçoğunu, ciğerlerimize inmeden durduracak biçimde evrimleşmiştir. Bu yüzden çöl tozlarının ve polen tanelerinin çoğu, boğazımızdan aşağı inemez. İnsan vücudu, hayran olunacak derecede toz geçirmez özelliktedir. Fakat çevremize inen toz geçen yüzyılda değişmiştir. Sanayi çağının tozları genellikle doğal toz zerrelerinden çok çok daha küçüktür. Başımızın ve göğsümüzün içinde bekçilik yapan yapışkan tuzakları aşabilirler. Akciğerlerimizin en küçük dalına kadar inip oraya yerleşebilirler. Dünyanın her yerinde, kavraması oldukça zor sayıda insan -Çin’de her yıl bir milyon, ABD’de ise 60.000 kişi- hava kirliliği yüzünden ölmektedir..."
"....Kaliforniya’daki bir hava kirlilik kurumu daha da ileri giderek, Los Angeles bölgesinde açık havayı kirleten maddelerin yarattığı toplam kanser riskinin yaklaşık üçte ikisinden dizel kurumunun sorumlu olduğu tahmininde bulunuyor...."
"...Nerede yaşıyor olursanız olun, kapınızın önündeki tozların özel ve yerel bir çeşnisi olacaktır. Dünyanın bazı yerlerinde ise yerel tozlar belâ demektir. Bu kötücül tozların bazıları tamamen doğaldır...."
"...Sanayi devrimi, insan elinden çıkma "polen” bulutları yarattı; bunlar işçilerin ve orada yaşayan diğer insanların akciğerlerinde yeniden üreyen sanayi tozlarıydı...."
"....Akciğerlerin bu kadar tozlanması, amatörce yapabilecek kadar kolay bir iş değildir. İnsan akciğerleri epeyce bir miktar tozu ağırlamaya alışıktır. Tozu yakalayıp dışarı atma yetenekleri hayret vericidir. Ama bir noktaya kadar. Akciğerlerimiz her gün ortalama yaklaşık 15.500 litre hava alır. Bu havanın içindeki oksijen akciğerlerimizde 500 milyon alveolün duvarlarından geçer. Bu küçük hava keseciklerinin toplam yüzeyi, bir patoloğun hesaplarına göre bir tenis kortu büyüklüğündedir...."
"....Bu hikâyenin rahatsız edici yanı, talk pudrasının kansere yol açtığı kesin olan asbestle güçlü bir kimyasal benzerlik göstermesi..."
"...Ölümcüllük açısından hiçbir toz tütün dumanıyla yanşamaz: Bu toz ABD'de her yıl neredeyse yarım milyon sigara tiryakisini öldürüyor...."
"...Aslına bakarsanız insanlar hâlâ ev tozuyla aşılanıyor. Bir ev tozu özü üreticisi, hâlâ tozu elektrikli süpürge torbalarından alıyor: Kuzey Carolina’daki Lenoir’da Greer Laboratuvarları’nın yöresindeki kiliseler ve okullar halktan toz torbalarını toplayıp içindeki tozu şirkete yaklaşık kilosu dört dolardan satıyor..."
"....Hindistan’ın, Asya’nın ve Afrika’nın bazı kesimlerinde uygulanan, cesedin etlerinin ayıklanması daha hızlı bir süreçtir. Ceset genellikle bu amaç için belirlenmiş bir yere, ya da bir ağaca yerleştirilir. Sonra, kimi zaman bu ritüele gayet alışık oldukları gözlenen hayvanlar, gelip cesedi parçalarlar. Örneğin Tibet’te ölen bir insanın ailesinin, bir grup cenazeciye, yakınlarının cesedini bir tepeye taşıyıp orada, bekleyen olan akbabalar için parçalara ayırtmaları hâlâ yaygın bir uygulamadır. Tibet’e yardım toplayan Güney Kaliforniya'lı Pamela Logan, yerel olarak gökyüzüne gömülme olarak bilinen bu uygulamaya tanıklık etmiş az sayıdaki yabancıdan biridir. “Akbabalar cenazecilerin tepeye tırmandığını gördüklerinde, havada dönmeye başladılar," diyor. Logan’ın anlattığına göre cenazeciler taş bir platformun üzerinde, cesede hızla birkaç kesik atmışlar. Yaklaşık 50 tane, muazzam büyüklükte akbaba geldi,” diyor. “On beş dakikayı bulmadan geriye et namına bir şey kalmamıştı. Sadece kıkırdak ve kemikler kalmıştı. Sonra adamlar ellerinde çekiçlerle geldiler ve kemikleri döve döve hamur haline getirdiler.” Ardından da bunu unla karıştırıp, tıka basa doymuş akbabalar gittikten sonra, kenarda bekleyen kargalara ve şahinlere vermişler. Logan, böylece yaklaşık 45 dakika içinde, ölmüş bir insanın kendisinde zaten ödünç olan elementlerinin yeni vücutlara girdiğini anlatıyor. Böyle bir tören düzenleyecek maddi imkânları olmayan Tibetliler için, cesedi tepede kuşların, köpeklerin, böceklerin ve bu töreni gönüllü olarak gerçekleştirecek başka yaratıkların eline bırakmak âdettendir. Bu kanatlı, pençeli, kıskaçlı yeni ev sahipleri cesedi sindirirken, bazı elementleri hazmedip diğerlerini reddederler. Reddedilmiş bileşenler hayvanın gerisinden çıkıp çabucak kuruyarak toz haline gelir. Sindirilmiş elementlerin bir bölümü ise tozlaşmaktan ebediyen kurtulabilir...."
"...Su buharı stratosfere çıktığında, güneşin radyasyonuna maruz kalır, bu da moleküllerini parçalar,” diye devam ediyor Caldeira. “Hidrojen atomları o kadar fazla enerji yükleneceklerdir ki, gezegeni sonsuza kadar terk edebilirler. Peki, suyu kaybedince ne olur? Sanıyorum ki Dünya biraz tozlu bir yer haline gelecektir...."
"....Akbabalara yem olan bir insan vücudu hayatın geniş ağı içinde dolanmayı sürdürür; yenir, sonra dışkılanır, yenir ve dışkılanır. Dünyamızdan kalanların başına da muhtemelen aynı şey gelecektir. Güneş sistemimizi oluşturan uzay tozu üzerinde bize 10 milyar yıllık kullanım hakkı tanınmış. Ama bu hak sona erdiğinde dahi, evren hâlâ bebeklik evresinde olacak. Evrenden ödünç aldığımız toz daha birçok kereler hayat bulacaktır...."
"....Fred Adams’ın evren yaşlandıkça oluşacağını tahmin ettiği tuhaf yıldızlar kuşağı yalıtıcı tozlarla öylesine dolu olacak ki, atmosferlerinin içinde buz kristalleri dolanacak. Ve sonra, tıpkı tavan arasında kalmış eski bir gazete gibi, yıpranmış evren, kalınlaşmakta olan toz tabakasının altında yavaş yavaş gözden kaybolacaktır...."
Bu kitabı okuyan kesinlikle paranoyak olur. Her yerde her zaman bir miktar toz var ve olacak; ancak bunların içeriği ve kaynağı gibi bilgiler sağlığımız için gerekli olduğundan yalnızca beni değil, okuyan herkesi kaygılı düşüncelere sevk edeceğine eminim.
Beni şaşırtan en önemli şeylerden birisi Karayip Adalarının tamamen Afrika'daki Sahra Çölü'nden gelen toz tarafından sürekli bir bombardıman edilmesi. Diğer bir şey de kesinlikte "talk pudrası" kullanmamaya karar vermem. Kışlık lastikleri yazlıklarla değiştirmeye gittiğimde muazzam tozun içinde çalışan işçileri gördüğümde dehşete düşmüştüm.
Birçok insanı endişeye sürükleyen bilgiden seçtiğim birkaç alıntıyı buraya "kendim için" aktarayım:
"....Yalnızca Çin değil, Asya kaplanının tamamının soluğu kötü kokuyor. Singapur’dan Tayland’a, Kore’den Çin’e kadar ülkeler, ekonomileri büyürken, fosil yakıtlara karşı doymak bilmez bir iştah geliştirmişlerdir. Ne yazık ki, bu yakıtların yanmasıyla ortaya çıkan dumanı filtreleyen teknolojiler pahalıdır. Bu yüzden de Bangkok’un romantik manzaraları genellikle gözleri sulandıran, boğazı tıkayan parçacıklardan oluşan bir sise bürünmüştür. Hong Kong limanında, gemiler bazen görüş mesafesini 1,5 kilometreden aza indiren sapsarı bir gaz ve toz bulutunun içinden geçerken sis düdüklerini kullanmak zorunda kalırlar...."
"...Genelde Çin’de her yıl yaklaşık bir milyon insanın havadaki ölümcül tozlar yüzünden öldüğünü söyleyebiliriz. Bu, Maine eyaletinin toplam nüfusunun her yıl tozdan zehirlenip ölmesi ve bunun durmadan tekrarlanmasından farksız..."
"...Yanardağlardan kadmiyum, talyum ve indiyum sızar. Okyanustaki kabarcıkların patlaması selenyum salınmasına yol açar. Çok miktarda silisyum ve alüminyum, kalsiyum ve demir de havaya yükselir, çünkü kayalarda bu bileşenlerden bol miktarlarda bulunmaktadır..."
"...Peki, bu fazladan çöl tozu bugünün iklimini nasıl etkiliyor? Bizi bir buz devrine doğru mu itiyor? Yoksa bir erime dönemine mi? Biscaye’in dediği gibi, çöl tozu mekanizmanın kritik önemde bir parçasıdır, fakat ısıtan bir parça mıdır yoksa soğutan bir parça mıdır, henüz anlayabilmiş değiliz..."
"....Dünya yüzeyinin her metrekaresinin ortalama 240 Watt güneş ışığı aldığını hatırlayalım. Steve Warren bugün atmosferdeki ortalama sülfür parçacığı yükünün Kuzey Yarım küreyi ortalama bir vattan fazla soğuttuğunu söylüyor...."
"...Muhs, "Resifler saf kalsiyum karbonattır,” diyor. “Kalsiyum, karbon, oksijen. Bunlar toprak oluşturmak için doğru bileşenler değildir..."
"....Bu kutuyu oluşturan alüminyumun her zerresi, yüz binlerce, hatta milyonlarca yıl önce, birer birer uçarak Sahra dan Atlantik Okyanusunu aşıp Karayipler’e gelmiştir..."
"...Büyük kıtaların "tahıl ambarlarının” haritasını çıkaracak olursanız, inen tozların en büyük bölümünü yakalayan arazilerin haritasını elde etmiş olursunuz. ABD’nin orta batı eyaletleri, Arjantin pampaları, Avrupa’nın büyük bölümü, Ukrayna, Orta Asya ve Çin’in beşte biri, yani dünyanın tozdan oluşan bütün toprakları gezegendeki tahılın beşte birini ve bunun yanı sıra hayvan yemi olan tahılları ve çayırları yetiştirir..."
"...Demek ki yere inen toz sadece Barbados’un palmiyelerini ve zambaklarını beslemekle kalmıyor. Hepimizi doyuruyor..."
"...İnsanların kanalizasyon atıkları, hayvan atıkları ve karada, kıyıya yakın bölgelerde üretilen tarımsal gübreler, hepsi de bir yoldan denize karışmaktadır. Bütün bu sözde besinler bir mercanın üstüne çöreklenerek çoğalan algleri besleyebilir...."
"...Porto Riko’da toz yağışı olduğu zaman orada bir toplantıya katılmıştım,” diye devam ediyor. “Güneşe dosdoğru bakabiliyorsunuz çünkü toz bir pus oluşturuyor. Kokusunu da alabiliyorsunuz. Toprak gibi kokuyor, tozlu bir yol gibi. Tozu hissedebiliyorsunuz. Toz yüzünden havaalanları kapatılıyor. Sahra tozunun Aspergillus yüklü olduğunu biliyoruz. Fakat gerçek şu ki, şimdiye kadar hiç kimse bu tozun içinde olması gereken diğer maddelerin kültürünü hazırlamaya çalışmadı. İçinde başka neler olduğunu görmek gerekir...."
"...Mavi küf bu tür tozlardan biridir. Tütün yetiştiricileri genellikle, bu tehdidi önlemek için haftada bir kez ürünlerini ilaçlar; bu yüzdendir ki tütün Dünya’da kimyasalların en yoğun olduğu ürünlerden biridir..."
"....Bir ülke balıklarını, ayılarını, kurbağalarını ve insanlarını zehirli toz yağmurlarından korumak istiyorsa, o ülke zehirli tozların dünyanın neresinde olursa olsun, yükselmesini engellemenin bir yolunu bulmalıdır...."
"...Her gün burnumuzdan ve ağzımızdan içeri en az bir buçuk milyar toz parçası girer; tabii eğer özellikle çok temiz bir hava soluyorsak. Çoğu insan, bu sayının kaç kat fazlasını solur. İnsan vücudu toza yabancı değildir elbette. İnsan soyu çöllerde ve mağaralarda, polenlerin bol olduğu savanalarda, nemli ve küflü ormanlarda gelişmiştir. Burnumuz ve boğazımız, doğal tozların birçoğunu, ciğerlerimize inmeden durduracak biçimde evrimleşmiştir. Bu yüzden çöl tozlarının ve polen tanelerinin çoğu, boğazımızdan aşağı inemez. İnsan vücudu, hayran olunacak derecede toz geçirmez özelliktedir. Fakat çevremize inen toz geçen yüzyılda değişmiştir. Sanayi çağının tozları genellikle doğal toz zerrelerinden çok çok daha küçüktür. Başımızın ve göğsümüzün içinde bekçilik yapan yapışkan tuzakları aşabilirler. Akciğerlerimizin en küçük dalına kadar inip oraya yerleşebilirler. Dünyanın her yerinde, kavraması oldukça zor sayıda insan -Çin’de her yıl bir milyon, ABD’de ise 60.000 kişi- hava kirliliği yüzünden ölmektedir..."
"....Kaliforniya’daki bir hava kirlilik kurumu daha da ileri giderek, Los Angeles bölgesinde açık havayı kirleten maddelerin yarattığı toplam kanser riskinin yaklaşık üçte ikisinden dizel kurumunun sorumlu olduğu tahmininde bulunuyor...."
"...Nerede yaşıyor olursanız olun, kapınızın önündeki tozların özel ve yerel bir çeşnisi olacaktır. Dünyanın bazı yerlerinde ise yerel tozlar belâ demektir. Bu kötücül tozların bazıları tamamen doğaldır...."
"...Sanayi devrimi, insan elinden çıkma "polen” bulutları yarattı; bunlar işçilerin ve orada yaşayan diğer insanların akciğerlerinde yeniden üreyen sanayi tozlarıydı...."
"....Akciğerlerin bu kadar tozlanması, amatörce yapabilecek kadar kolay bir iş değildir. İnsan akciğerleri epeyce bir miktar tozu ağırlamaya alışıktır. Tozu yakalayıp dışarı atma yetenekleri hayret vericidir. Ama bir noktaya kadar. Akciğerlerimiz her gün ortalama yaklaşık 15.500 litre hava alır. Bu havanın içindeki oksijen akciğerlerimizde 500 milyon alveolün duvarlarından geçer. Bu küçük hava keseciklerinin toplam yüzeyi, bir patoloğun hesaplarına göre bir tenis kortu büyüklüğündedir...."
"....Bu hikâyenin rahatsız edici yanı, talk pudrasının kansere yol açtığı kesin olan asbestle güçlü bir kimyasal benzerlik göstermesi..."
"...Ölümcüllük açısından hiçbir toz tütün dumanıyla yanşamaz: Bu toz ABD'de her yıl neredeyse yarım milyon sigara tiryakisini öldürüyor...."
"...Aslına bakarsanız insanlar hâlâ ev tozuyla aşılanıyor. Bir ev tozu özü üreticisi, hâlâ tozu elektrikli süpürge torbalarından alıyor: Kuzey Carolina’daki Lenoir’da Greer Laboratuvarları’nın yöresindeki kiliseler ve okullar halktan toz torbalarını toplayıp içindeki tozu şirkete yaklaşık kilosu dört dolardan satıyor..."
"....Hindistan’ın, Asya’nın ve Afrika’nın bazı kesimlerinde uygulanan, cesedin etlerinin ayıklanması daha hızlı bir süreçtir. Ceset genellikle bu amaç için belirlenmiş bir yere, ya da bir ağaca yerleştirilir. Sonra, kimi zaman bu ritüele gayet alışık oldukları gözlenen hayvanlar, gelip cesedi parçalarlar. Örneğin Tibet’te ölen bir insanın ailesinin, bir grup cenazeciye, yakınlarının cesedini bir tepeye taşıyıp orada, bekleyen olan akbabalar için parçalara ayırtmaları hâlâ yaygın bir uygulamadır. Tibet’e yardım toplayan Güney Kaliforniya'lı Pamela Logan, yerel olarak gökyüzüne gömülme olarak bilinen bu uygulamaya tanıklık etmiş az sayıdaki yabancıdan biridir. “Akbabalar cenazecilerin tepeye tırmandığını gördüklerinde, havada dönmeye başladılar," diyor. Logan’ın anlattığına göre cenazeciler taş bir platformun üzerinde, cesede hızla birkaç kesik atmışlar. Yaklaşık 50 tane, muazzam büyüklükte akbaba geldi,” diyor. “On beş dakikayı bulmadan geriye et namına bir şey kalmamıştı. Sadece kıkırdak ve kemikler kalmıştı. Sonra adamlar ellerinde çekiçlerle geldiler ve kemikleri döve döve hamur haline getirdiler.” Ardından da bunu unla karıştırıp, tıka basa doymuş akbabalar gittikten sonra, kenarda bekleyen kargalara ve şahinlere vermişler. Logan, böylece yaklaşık 45 dakika içinde, ölmüş bir insanın kendisinde zaten ödünç olan elementlerinin yeni vücutlara girdiğini anlatıyor. Böyle bir tören düzenleyecek maddi imkânları olmayan Tibetliler için, cesedi tepede kuşların, köpeklerin, böceklerin ve bu töreni gönüllü olarak gerçekleştirecek başka yaratıkların eline bırakmak âdettendir. Bu kanatlı, pençeli, kıskaçlı yeni ev sahipleri cesedi sindirirken, bazı elementleri hazmedip diğerlerini reddederler. Reddedilmiş bileşenler hayvanın gerisinden çıkıp çabucak kuruyarak toz haline gelir. Sindirilmiş elementlerin bir bölümü ise tozlaşmaktan ebediyen kurtulabilir...."
"...Su buharı stratosfere çıktığında, güneşin radyasyonuna maruz kalır, bu da moleküllerini parçalar,” diye devam ediyor Caldeira. “Hidrojen atomları o kadar fazla enerji yükleneceklerdir ki, gezegeni sonsuza kadar terk edebilirler. Peki, suyu kaybedince ne olur? Sanıyorum ki Dünya biraz tozlu bir yer haline gelecektir...."
"....Akbabalara yem olan bir insan vücudu hayatın geniş ağı içinde dolanmayı sürdürür; yenir, sonra dışkılanır, yenir ve dışkılanır. Dünyamızdan kalanların başına da muhtemelen aynı şey gelecektir. Güneş sistemimizi oluşturan uzay tozu üzerinde bize 10 milyar yıllık kullanım hakkı tanınmış. Ama bu hak sona erdiğinde dahi, evren hâlâ bebeklik evresinde olacak. Evrenden ödünç aldığımız toz daha birçok kereler hayat bulacaktır...."
"....Fred Adams’ın evren yaşlandıkça oluşacağını tahmin ettiği tuhaf yıldızlar kuşağı yalıtıcı tozlarla öylesine dolu olacak ki, atmosferlerinin içinde buz kristalleri dolanacak. Ve sonra, tıpkı tavan arasında kalmış eski bir gazete gibi, yıpranmış evren, kalınlaşmakta olan toz tabakasının altında yavaş yavaş gözden kaybolacaktır...."
July 27, 2012
This is one of those books that caught my eye on a library shelf and got a tryout. Sadly, I wish I had checked the publication date before I started- it was written over 10 years ago, which means not insignificant chunks of the science referenced are already out of date. (It's a bit strange reading about projected NASA and JAXA missions that have already happened.)
The book is basically a collection of essays on different topics relating to dust (or to be more accurate, particulates, because I doubt most people think of what comes out of their car exhaust pipes as dust.) It goes from stardust to household dust and many points in between. While it might be interesting to a person who doesn't read much science, I'm guessing many will find it a bit dry; those who do keep up with the science will have seen most of it elsewhere already.
The book is basically a collection of essays on different topics relating to dust (or to be more accurate, particulates, because I doubt most people think of what comes out of their car exhaust pipes as dust.) It goes from stardust to household dust and many points in between. While it might be interesting to a person who doesn't read much science, I'm guessing many will find it a bit dry; those who do keep up with the science will have seen most of it elsewhere already.
February 6, 2009
Interesting enough to read. Not surprisingly, the author stretches "dust" to cover enough different things to make a book. A good number of interesting facts, but not much coherence. Like a lot of science writers, the author is sufficiently eager for a good story that new and exciting theories are touted without much attention to evidence, and most of the material is now 10 years old, making it entirely possible that the "new" breakthroughs listed are long since discredited. Also, she tends toward the dramatic -- yes, some nasty things are in dust, and there is a lot of dust overall, but that doesn't necessarily mean there is a lot of nasty dust. Still, entertaining enough, and the last chapter on the dust we become when we die was probably a high point.
February 7, 2017
Kitapta yazar Hannah Holmes çok bir araştırma yaparak sürekli etrafımızda olup hiç farketmediğimiz tozla ilgili çarpıcı gerçekler ortaya koyuyor. Toz deyince ilk olarak insan sağlığına olan etkileri aklınıza geliyor olabilir ama dünya iklimi, ekosistem gibi daha pek çok konuda tozlar büyük rol oynuyor. Kitap çok tatmin edici bilgiler vermesine rağmen uzunluğu ile biraz sıkıyor. Biraz daha kısa olsaymış tadından yenmezmiş.
November 23, 2010
Amazon.com Review
Leave it to an accomplished science writer like Hannah Holmes to unearth so much about so little. Zooming in on one of the great, often unnoticed constants of life on earth--dust, in all its myriad forms--Holmes traverses biology, astronomy, climatology, pathology, and host of other fields to dig up the serious dirt. Because while dust might be vital to life on our planet (and may, in fact, even be responsible for it), this "heartless little brute" could also be responsible for the deaths of millions. And she's not talking about dinosaurs. (Or at least not just yet.)
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, "[y]ou 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 "unsavory 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 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."
Leave it to an accomplished science writer like Hannah Holmes to unearth so much about so little. Zooming in on one of the great, often unnoticed constants of life on earth--dust, in all its myriad forms--Holmes traverses biology, astronomy, climatology, pathology, and host of other fields to dig up the serious dirt. Because while dust might be vital to life on our planet (and may, in fact, even be responsible for it), this "heartless little brute" could also be responsible for the deaths of millions. And she's not talking about dinosaurs. (Or at least not just yet.)
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, "[y]ou 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 "unsavory 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 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."
August 2, 2011
I thought this book was a cool concept, so I picked it up. Who knew dust could be so interesting? For example, without dust, it would never rain. Unfortunately, this book was written by a terrible author. For instance, she cared more about what the scientists looked like and wore than the actual science, and generally wrote at a grade-10 level like some kind of newspaper reporter. So in that aspect, I found the entire book lame.
March 15, 2011
This book took cleaning from mundanity to space exploration! I loved realizing that dusting my furniture allowed me to touch the stars.
February 10, 2023
So I bought myself a rather nice "dissecting" microscope and a friend asked what I was using it for. "Oh, examining the dust from the vacuum cleaner" I replied. Well it's what you do isn't it? And I've long been curious about dust. How much of it is falling on us at any one time? Where does it come from? Am I getting dangerous levels of dust by living near to a freeway? Does it cause asthma? So I had quite a few questions before i even began the book. And, I must admit I was put off by the "accessible-science" writing style....lot's of folksy descriptions of people ..and overwrought prose....for example: “Hayley Duffel was a typical student, from Yorkshire, England. She was slim and wore her thick, dark hair in a sensible ponytail. With a quirky grin she introduced herself as a dust girl”. And then this: “The Phillipines islands……sit atop a seam in the planet. In fact, the entire Pacific Ocean is underlain by a particularly combative section of the earth’s crust. Its rock melting conflicts with neighbouring plates have earned the region the nickname the “Ring of fire”.”
All a bit much…. And given the size of Pacific, probably incorrect in the wider sense…. Yes there is a ring of fire but it’s not everywhere in the Pacific.
So in the initial stages I was getting so annoyed with the style that I almost gave up. But I'm glad that I soldiered on. The style was the same but there is some really interesting content in there. Though you do come up against the perennial problem of popularising science: how do you make the figures meaningful. So we are told that as the tires on your car wear down, 25,000 tons of rubber dust go into the air. And, hitting the brakes sends 35,000 tons of brake lining dust into the air each year in the USA. OK this sounds like a lot of pollution ...but if half of it falls to the ground within 5 min and the rest is mixed up with, say, the first 1000m of atmosphere the 25,000 tons of rubber dust becomes 0.0013 gm per cubic m of air. And this doesn't sound like quite so much to me. (In fact, it's significant because it's added onto all the other micro dust in the atmosphere and if it's all in the form of micro particles then we are talking about 1.3 micrograms of dangerous dust per cubic m of air. ......And there is no safe lower level of these particles). Anyway, it's hard to grasp the significance of such figures...and a lot of such figures are cited.
So where does dust come from? Well a whole lot of places really......from outer space comes a steady downpour.....from our deserts comes dust that crosses both the pacific from China and the Atlantic from Africa. And plants put out pollen and fungal spores and trees give off chemicals like isoprene, terpene, alcohol and formaldehyde, I've already mentioned from the roads and from engines. Add in dust from fires and volcanoes,..plus household dust (especially from mites and insect sheddings). If you're breathing really clean air you are taking in at least a billion and a half pieces of dust into your nose and mouth every day. (Sounds like a lot). And the industrial dusts of today (especially from diesel engines) are smaller than the dusts of the past and can penetrate the deepest recesses of our lungs.As one epidemiologist says..."air pollution kills people".
And there are some especially nasty dusts: mercury, asbestos, silica, coal dust (a black lung fund is doling out money to 200,000 people per year...both diseased miners and their families). But just about any mining dust can cause problems (I remember in Esperance, Western Australia, a few years ago birds were dying ...which was traced back to lead in the dust from a mine but it didn't stop there ....it was found that the lead and nickle were on the roofs and rainwater tanks of the entire city). But Hannah Holmes goes on to tell the horror stories from talc dust, wood dust, cotton dust, wheat flour dust (with its propensity to explode), synthetic fibre dust and dusts from intensive animal raising...especially poultry and pigs. Then there are cooking dusts ...especially bad for those who cook over open fires in confined spaces, pesticide dusts, mould clouds and spores from fungi.
Homes devotes quite a bit of energy to drawing a link between asthma and dusts but doesn't quite make the connection. There are obvious links but there always seem to be exceptions that don't fit the theory. For example, kids who grow up in dirty environments appear to have less asthma than kids who grow up in clean environments ......are the developing immunity? She finishes with a homily on the dusts from cremation...and some ashes being rocketed into space.
Altogether quite fascinating. A power of information there. Sufficient for me to overlook her overwrought prose and folksy introductions to the experts. Happy to give it 4.5 stars.
All a bit much…. And given the size of Pacific, probably incorrect in the wider sense…. Yes there is a ring of fire but it’s not everywhere in the Pacific.
So in the initial stages I was getting so annoyed with the style that I almost gave up. But I'm glad that I soldiered on. The style was the same but there is some really interesting content in there. Though you do come up against the perennial problem of popularising science: how do you make the figures meaningful. So we are told that as the tires on your car wear down, 25,000 tons of rubber dust go into the air. And, hitting the brakes sends 35,000 tons of brake lining dust into the air each year in the USA. OK this sounds like a lot of pollution ...but if half of it falls to the ground within 5 min and the rest is mixed up with, say, the first 1000m of atmosphere the 25,000 tons of rubber dust becomes 0.0013 gm per cubic m of air. And this doesn't sound like quite so much to me. (In fact, it's significant because it's added onto all the other micro dust in the atmosphere and if it's all in the form of micro particles then we are talking about 1.3 micrograms of dangerous dust per cubic m of air. ......And there is no safe lower level of these particles). Anyway, it's hard to grasp the significance of such figures...and a lot of such figures are cited.
So where does dust come from? Well a whole lot of places really......from outer space comes a steady downpour.....from our deserts comes dust that crosses both the pacific from China and the Atlantic from Africa. And plants put out pollen and fungal spores and trees give off chemicals like isoprene, terpene, alcohol and formaldehyde, I've already mentioned from the roads and from engines. Add in dust from fires and volcanoes,..plus household dust (especially from mites and insect sheddings). If you're breathing really clean air you are taking in at least a billion and a half pieces of dust into your nose and mouth every day. (Sounds like a lot). And the industrial dusts of today (especially from diesel engines) are smaller than the dusts of the past and can penetrate the deepest recesses of our lungs.As one epidemiologist says..."air pollution kills people".
And there are some especially nasty dusts: mercury, asbestos, silica, coal dust (a black lung fund is doling out money to 200,000 people per year...both diseased miners and their families). But just about any mining dust can cause problems (I remember in Esperance, Western Australia, a few years ago birds were dying ...which was traced back to lead in the dust from a mine but it didn't stop there ....it was found that the lead and nickle were on the roofs and rainwater tanks of the entire city). But Hannah Holmes goes on to tell the horror stories from talc dust, wood dust, cotton dust, wheat flour dust (with its propensity to explode), synthetic fibre dust and dusts from intensive animal raising...especially poultry and pigs. Then there are cooking dusts ...especially bad for those who cook over open fires in confined spaces, pesticide dusts, mould clouds and spores from fungi.
Homes devotes quite a bit of energy to drawing a link between asthma and dusts but doesn't quite make the connection. There are obvious links but there always seem to be exceptions that don't fit the theory. For example, kids who grow up in dirty environments appear to have less asthma than kids who grow up in clean environments ......are the developing immunity? She finishes with a homily on the dusts from cremation...and some ashes being rocketed into space.
Altogether quite fascinating. A power of information there. Sufficient for me to overlook her overwrought prose and folksy introductions to the experts. Happy to give it 4.5 stars.
August 10, 2019
Full of fascinating and little known information
"Everything counts in large amounts." –Depeche Monde.
Science writer Hannah Holmes uses the Biblical "dust to dust" adage as a thread weaving through her eleven easy to read chapters, beginning with a sort of overview in Chapter 1. We begin as stardust, and it is to stardust we shall return. Eventually. In Chapter 2, "Life and Death among the Stars," she introduces cosmic dust and in Chapter 3 shows it falling on the earth from outer space: forty thousand tons of it every year, almost all of it in a fine rain. (p. 33) Then there are three chapters on how dust moves around on our planet and how it affects the weather, the life cycles of plants and animals, our economies and our health. There is an excursion into the past in Chapter 7 to answer the question, "Did Dust Do in the Ice Age?" Chapter 8 is about the continuous fall of atmospheric dust onto land, ocean and ice. It is finally in Chapter 9 that Holmes considers the dust in our neighborhoods, and then in Chapter 10, "Microscopic Monsters and Other Indoor Devils," she gets to the topic of primary interest to most readers, the dust under the bed, in the rug, and on the floor. The final chapter is about the dust of our bodies after we are dead, and then after the sun explodes and we are once again stardust.
This is a fascinating read that unlike most books becomes more interesting the further into it one gets. It may change the way you view the world. Seeing our planet and its history from the point of view of dust sheds an entirely different light on things. The very small things in enormous numbers affect our lives in ways that surprise and astound. Consider the sheer volume and weight of dust that swirls around in the atmosphere, with massive tons of it held aloft to cross oceans and continents. That story alone is mind boggling. Here I learned that the coral islands of the Caribbean developed their soil not from the breakdown of the islands themselves, but from the sand that fell on them over millions of years from the Sahara Desert thousands of miles away!
This, the relatively unknown story of dust is a story of dust hunters who collect and analyze the minute particles from all over the planet to determine their origin and how they affect the various environments. Dust hunters even drill into the arctic and the antarctic to reconstruct the story of dust laid down in the past. They can tell by the composition of dust where it came from. Saharan dust, for example, is particularly heavy in iron and phosphorous. In fact, the microbes in dust, the viruses, the fungi and the bacteria, can betray its origin.
Holmes considers some hot topics in science along the way, including global warming and the explosion in asthma in the United States and Europe in recent decades and how dust may or may not be the cause. Deadly dusts containing asbestos, quartz, coal, etc. are considered as well as the danger of working with materials containing them. Why talcum powder is no longer dusted on babies and how working with pigs and wheat and other farm products can be hazardous to your health is revealed. The deadly effect of dust getting into the lungs is explained--how macrophages can and cannot engulf and get rid of various substances and how people die from a host of diseases caused by inhaling the wrong kind of dust. And Holmes doesn't disappoint when it comes to the story of household dust. The chapter on indoor dust is absolutely fascinating and a bit scary.
Some other things I learned is how dust heats or cools the planet as it floats in the air or lands on ocean, land or ice; how epidemics can be triggered by migrating dust containing disease spores; how a bloom of algae can follow a download of iron-bearing dust from a desert half a world away; even how we carry around with us our own personal and distinctive cloud of dust.
Some readers I suspect will grow impatient with all the science and want to know about their own dust. I know I felt that way when I opened the book. But I am glad I read the whole thing, because what I learned about dust makes me shake my head in wonder. This is an information-packed book. There's no padding, and everything is vividly expressed.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
"Everything counts in large amounts." –Depeche Monde.
Science writer Hannah Holmes uses the Biblical "dust to dust" adage as a thread weaving through her eleven easy to read chapters, beginning with a sort of overview in Chapter 1. We begin as stardust, and it is to stardust we shall return. Eventually. In Chapter 2, "Life and Death among the Stars," she introduces cosmic dust and in Chapter 3 shows it falling on the earth from outer space: forty thousand tons of it every year, almost all of it in a fine rain. (p. 33) Then there are three chapters on how dust moves around on our planet and how it affects the weather, the life cycles of plants and animals, our economies and our health. There is an excursion into the past in Chapter 7 to answer the question, "Did Dust Do in the Ice Age?" Chapter 8 is about the continuous fall of atmospheric dust onto land, ocean and ice. It is finally in Chapter 9 that Holmes considers the dust in our neighborhoods, and then in Chapter 10, "Microscopic Monsters and Other Indoor Devils," she gets to the topic of primary interest to most readers, the dust under the bed, in the rug, and on the floor. The final chapter is about the dust of our bodies after we are dead, and then after the sun explodes and we are once again stardust.
This is a fascinating read that unlike most books becomes more interesting the further into it one gets. It may change the way you view the world. Seeing our planet and its history from the point of view of dust sheds an entirely different light on things. The very small things in enormous numbers affect our lives in ways that surprise and astound. Consider the sheer volume and weight of dust that swirls around in the atmosphere, with massive tons of it held aloft to cross oceans and continents. That story alone is mind boggling. Here I learned that the coral islands of the Caribbean developed their soil not from the breakdown of the islands themselves, but from the sand that fell on them over millions of years from the Sahara Desert thousands of miles away!
This, the relatively unknown story of dust is a story of dust hunters who collect and analyze the minute particles from all over the planet to determine their origin and how they affect the various environments. Dust hunters even drill into the arctic and the antarctic to reconstruct the story of dust laid down in the past. They can tell by the composition of dust where it came from. Saharan dust, for example, is particularly heavy in iron and phosphorous. In fact, the microbes in dust, the viruses, the fungi and the bacteria, can betray its origin.
Holmes considers some hot topics in science along the way, including global warming and the explosion in asthma in the United States and Europe in recent decades and how dust may or may not be the cause. Deadly dusts containing asbestos, quartz, coal, etc. are considered as well as the danger of working with materials containing them. Why talcum powder is no longer dusted on babies and how working with pigs and wheat and other farm products can be hazardous to your health is revealed. The deadly effect of dust getting into the lungs is explained--how macrophages can and cannot engulf and get rid of various substances and how people die from a host of diseases caused by inhaling the wrong kind of dust. And Holmes doesn't disappoint when it comes to the story of household dust. The chapter on indoor dust is absolutely fascinating and a bit scary.
Some other things I learned is how dust heats or cools the planet as it floats in the air or lands on ocean, land or ice; how epidemics can be triggered by migrating dust containing disease spores; how a bloom of algae can follow a download of iron-bearing dust from a desert half a world away; even how we carry around with us our own personal and distinctive cloud of dust.
Some readers I suspect will grow impatient with all the science and want to know about their own dust. I know I felt that way when I opened the book. But I am glad I read the whole thing, because what I learned about dust makes me shake my head in wonder. This is an information-packed book. There's no padding, and everything is vividly expressed.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
November 22, 2021
The other day I was sweeping my apartment. It had been awhile. The dust bunnies were visible, in some places able to be gathered and collected by hand. I hit all the usual spots, then for good measure vacuumed. When I was done, after I had put the broom, dust pan and vacuum cleaner back in their respective closets, I noticed another large pile just inches from my bed. And so it was, dust everywhere, remaining, omnipresent, visible and hidden, in places I could plainly see–and likely in every other place.
Is there any other religious and spiritual dictum that also happens to be cliche as well known as “from ashes to ashes, dust to dust?” From dust were we made, to dust we shall return. We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon. From hippie song lyric to humbling proverb, it turns out it all happens to be true.
The final chapter of “The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things,” written by scientist Hannah Holmes, is about what happens to our bodies after we die. Whether we are cremated, or buried, or buried in a wooden or steel casket, with enough time, Earthly, geologic time, we all return to dust. And become part of the soil, and return again to the process of recreating whatever becomes of the nutrients and elements that comprise our body.
The first chapter is about space dust, and how much of outer space is comprised of dust, and what happens to that dust when it collects, by a force of gravity, into a celestial body, whether that be a star, a comet or eventually a planet. In between are explications of how and where the dust on our planet exists and moves, from deep underground then spewed into the atmosphere by volcanoes, or swept off the surface of the ocean into the clouds, to be rained down upon us again in cycles that are ageless. And this is just the natural dust, not the dust and soot that are by-products of the Industrial Age.
There is so much dust on Earth that it is almost impossible to comprehend, considering how so much of it is barely even visible under a microscope. And in reading how prevalent dust is, both outdoors but even more so indoors (I will never cook in my kitchen again without thinking of what I am putting into the air that I will eventually breathe) that it is a wonder any of us can get through a lifetime of breathing without choking to death.
In fact, Holmes spends a chapter examining the growing rates of asthma. While she doesn’t come to any conclusions, as the science is unclear, it is likely a combination of factors causing the increased rates of breathing difficulties. Our lack of exposure to as many germs and bacteria as children, the rising amount of time indoors, the higher intensity of pollution and chemicals in our lives (from the fuels in our cars to the chemicals in our detergent)–all contribute to added stress on our fragile lungs and breathing passages.
While this book is highly studious and detailed, leaving it dry at times, what is fascinating is just how prevalent dust is–and how much of it comes from the very roots of life on our planet and in our solar system. We live our lives surrounded by dust and don’t even know it. We shed so many skin particles (most of which goes down the drain when we shower or cleaned when we wash our sheets) but those particles need to go somewhere.
Reading this book was like standing at the ocean’s edge or looking up at the starry sky. It imbued a sense of humility, of smallness of our individual selves in relation to the world around us. And all this from the accumulation of dust particles we can’t even see.
It doesn’t make me feel better when cooking or cleaning, nor imagining what lies ahead, many, many years down the road, for the physical essence of my body. But everything that ever was is still around, somewhere, just in a different form, everlasting. Not a bad take-away from a book focusing on something so small as dust. We look at dust as inconsequential, though this book shows how that is not the case. Because of dust are we made. To consider dust meaningless and simply something to be disposed of is to case the same fate upon ourselves.
Is there any other religious and spiritual dictum that also happens to be cliche as well known as “from ashes to ashes, dust to dust?” From dust were we made, to dust we shall return. We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon. From hippie song lyric to humbling proverb, it turns out it all happens to be true.
The final chapter of “The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things,” written by scientist Hannah Holmes, is about what happens to our bodies after we die. Whether we are cremated, or buried, or buried in a wooden or steel casket, with enough time, Earthly, geologic time, we all return to dust. And become part of the soil, and return again to the process of recreating whatever becomes of the nutrients and elements that comprise our body.
The first chapter is about space dust, and how much of outer space is comprised of dust, and what happens to that dust when it collects, by a force of gravity, into a celestial body, whether that be a star, a comet or eventually a planet. In between are explications of how and where the dust on our planet exists and moves, from deep underground then spewed into the atmosphere by volcanoes, or swept off the surface of the ocean into the clouds, to be rained down upon us again in cycles that are ageless. And this is just the natural dust, not the dust and soot that are by-products of the Industrial Age.
There is so much dust on Earth that it is almost impossible to comprehend, considering how so much of it is barely even visible under a microscope. And in reading how prevalent dust is, both outdoors but even more so indoors (I will never cook in my kitchen again without thinking of what I am putting into the air that I will eventually breathe) that it is a wonder any of us can get through a lifetime of breathing without choking to death.
In fact, Holmes spends a chapter examining the growing rates of asthma. While she doesn’t come to any conclusions, as the science is unclear, it is likely a combination of factors causing the increased rates of breathing difficulties. Our lack of exposure to as many germs and bacteria as children, the rising amount of time indoors, the higher intensity of pollution and chemicals in our lives (from the fuels in our cars to the chemicals in our detergent)–all contribute to added stress on our fragile lungs and breathing passages.
While this book is highly studious and detailed, leaving it dry at times, what is fascinating is just how prevalent dust is–and how much of it comes from the very roots of life on our planet and in our solar system. We live our lives surrounded by dust and don’t even know it. We shed so many skin particles (most of which goes down the drain when we shower or cleaned when we wash our sheets) but those particles need to go somewhere.
Reading this book was like standing at the ocean’s edge or looking up at the starry sky. It imbued a sense of humility, of smallness of our individual selves in relation to the world around us. And all this from the accumulation of dust particles we can’t even see.
It doesn’t make me feel better when cooking or cleaning, nor imagining what lies ahead, many, many years down the road, for the physical essence of my body. But everything that ever was is still around, somewhere, just in a different form, everlasting. Not a bad take-away from a book focusing on something so small as dust. We look at dust as inconsequential, though this book shows how that is not the case. Because of dust are we made. To consider dust meaningless and simply something to be disposed of is to case the same fate upon ourselves.
November 10, 2025
This book explores all aspects of all types of dust, from the cosmic dust that formed the origins of the universe, through desert dust, fungal spores and smoke from forest fires to pollution and household dust. The more I read, the more I became aware of the risks posed by all these types of dust. It's a sobering read. I'll just share some interesting facts here.
Astonishing amounts of dust are produced from dried out lakes, for example the Aral Sea, which has been massively reduced in size due to overextraction of water for irrigation, produces an estimated 150 million tons a year of dust, heavily laden with toxic pesticides. Up to "half the desert dust in the air today may rise from land damaged by human use."
Natural dusts from different places have unique mineral signatures and combined with the differing sources of pollution in different areass mean that rain varies around the world in terms of the chemicals and particles contained in raindrops.
The dusts produced from industrial processes have long been associated with illnesses, particularly asbestosis. I was surprised to read here how long humans have been using asbestos, two thousand years ago, Romans were including asbestos in funeral shrouds and even back then the risks were recognised by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, who noticed that "the unfortunates who mined and wove asbestos were a sickly lot." Yet even now, asbestos creates problems. It can take us a long time to really address problems...
Asthma of course is another ongoing health problem strongly associated with dusts, some of them natural. The last chapter of the book looks at household dusts, and how these are affected by the appliances we use and our approach to household cleanliness.
This book is very US-centric but is a fascinating read, wherever you live and may make you more aware of all the dust around you.
Astonishing amounts of dust are produced from dried out lakes, for example the Aral Sea, which has been massively reduced in size due to overextraction of water for irrigation, produces an estimated 150 million tons a year of dust, heavily laden with toxic pesticides. Up to "half the desert dust in the air today may rise from land damaged by human use."
Natural dusts from different places have unique mineral signatures and combined with the differing sources of pollution in different areass mean that rain varies around the world in terms of the chemicals and particles contained in raindrops.
The dusts produced from industrial processes have long been associated with illnesses, particularly asbestosis. I was surprised to read here how long humans have been using asbestos, two thousand years ago, Romans were including asbestos in funeral shrouds and even back then the risks were recognised by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, who noticed that "the unfortunates who mined and wove asbestos were a sickly lot." Yet even now, asbestos creates problems. It can take us a long time to really address problems...
Asthma of course is another ongoing health problem strongly associated with dusts, some of them natural. The last chapter of the book looks at household dusts, and how these are affected by the appliances we use and our approach to household cleanliness.
This book is very US-centric but is a fascinating read, wherever you live and may make you more aware of all the dust around you.
May 13, 2019
i read some reviews and saw the word boring a lot. this is a special kind of read for ppl who like books and learning. when i read it i was amazed, we live under a dome and all the air /water / resources get thrown about and re-used...learn how small and closed in we are....what turned me on was learning i have space diamonds & star dust in me, yeah! it took 3 months to read it the first time, bits of chapters at a time, I read several books at one time to keep different genres going.
Now, reading it for third time, keep finding new stuff, about dust! read it as a hobby, when time permits....you will find that there is no such thing as clean air and clean soil...you will see that we ALL share this little planet with our modern relatives and billions of yrs of ancestors, flora and fauna and rock.
i am not a scientist..the language is easy to understand and has salt and humor in it..i dare you, double dog dare you, to read it once all the way thru (the last chapters will blow your socks off) and don't sneeze at this marvelous little gem
Now, reading it for third time, keep finding new stuff, about dust! read it as a hobby, when time permits....you will find that there is no such thing as clean air and clean soil...you will see that we ALL share this little planet with our modern relatives and billions of yrs of ancestors, flora and fauna and rock.
i am not a scientist..the language is easy to understand and has salt and humor in it..i dare you, double dog dare you, to read it once all the way thru (the last chapters will blow your socks off) and don't sneeze at this marvelous little gem
April 25, 2019
This was amazing, astounding. What a feat this author took on, and wrote about the most banal of things with style and grace. She approached the topic from many different schools of study - immunology, astronomy, anthropology, meteorology, environmentalism, everything. The facts are mind boggling. I wish she’d written an update for 2019, as the material is about 20 years old, and I wish I had some follow-up on the studies that were just starting up back in 2000. I never thought I’d want to learn more about dust lol. But yeah. This book is wild.
I could only read 5-10 pages a day though because it’s so dense and discusses things so small and old my brain had trouble processing the magnitude of what was being discussed.
Hannah Holmes introduces me to the sheer beauty of minuscule worlds, and I am grateful.
I could only read 5-10 pages a day though because it’s so dense and discusses things so small and old my brain had trouble processing the magnitude of what was being discussed.
Hannah Holmes introduces me to the sheer beauty of minuscule worlds, and I am grateful.
June 27, 2021
"You will never again look disparagingly upon dust. Hannah Holmes has written ... kind of book -- one that takes a seemingly mundane subject and trumpets its significance in our lives not only on Earth, but in the Heavens."
~~back cover
Once again, I was led astray by the glamor and the tag line: "From the Cosmos to the kitchen counter, the big consequences of little things." Perhaps the book did get to the kitchen counter and little things, but the beginning was space dust, asteroid dust, comet, dust, sun dust, etc. And I didn't find it particularly interesting.
~~back cover
Once again, I was led astray by the glamor and the tag line: "From the Cosmos to the kitchen counter, the big consequences of little things." Perhaps the book did get to the kitchen counter and little things, but the beginning was space dust, asteroid dust, comet, dust, sun dust, etc. And I didn't find it particularly interesting.
March 12, 2019
Dust - as inescapable and guaranteed as death an taxes, although even more ubiquitous.
Initially I found this book fascinating, as it explored the fascinating microscopic world enveloping us all. I struggled to maintain the earlier levels of interest through the latter part of the book. Overall it was well written and interesting.
Initially I found this book fascinating, as it explored the fascinating microscopic world enveloping us all. I struggled to maintain the earlier levels of interest through the latter part of the book. Overall it was well written and interesting.
Read
July 5, 2019I give myself a high five for persevering through this one. Repetitive, unorganized and filled with mindnumbingly boring factoids, I used it to put me to sleep, literally. To be fair, it was written over a decade ago.
Three stars are for the sheer effort of the author to plough through the presented data.
Three stars are for the sheer effort of the author to plough through the presented data.
June 28, 2017
An interesting topic - not one I would have every thought of...the author did a good job of putting the information together, even though its hard to imagine a whole book about dust - there was actually alot in there.
April 27, 2019
*sets down soapbox*
I thought this book was so terrible and dull it doesn't even need more review. Consider the single star a warning that you can spend your time with far better books.
*picks up soapbox and leaves*
I thought this book was so terrible and dull it doesn't even need more review. Consider the single star a warning that you can spend your time with far better books.
*picks up soapbox and leaves*
December 16, 2021
It only took me 20 years to get this off of my unread shelf of shame. It was an interesting book, easy to read. A trifle dated, though - I wish I’d read it a little closer to the date of publication. An updated edition from the author might be welcome.
May 30, 2018
Bir toz tanesinin ne kadar önemli olduğunu, dünyalar barındırdığını göreceksiniz.
Daha fazlası için;
https://goo.gl/C3LXGg
Daha fazlası için;
https://goo.gl/C3LXGg
September 9, 2018
A little too sprawling in its coverage at times, but bookending the piece with the dust-based beginning and end of stars was a good call. Definitely not a bad book, but certainly a niche one.
April 16, 2020
Interesting but not what I was expecting. The writing is a bit dry. I feel like it could have been so much more. The flow of the book didn't make sense. The topic and information was interesting.
June 11, 2020
It starts among the stars and ends up somewhere under the bed. This was a worthy read for questioning minds.
July 28, 2020
Amazing. You will never look at the world the same way again. Let alone breathe.
April 5, 2024
Everything is dust, or will be dust someday. Even the sun and the entire universe. All of us. Interesting but kinda depressing too. Still, I’d read it!
December 28, 2025
one of my favorite books. I recommend and LEND out frequently.
March 11, 2015
Dust is all-pervasive in our lives. It permeates our atmosphere and even fills the void between stars. In
The Secret Life of Dust
, Hannah Holmes has breathed life into this dusty topic, with a narrative by turns terrifying and fascinating.
Holmes' dust is not the motes you see floating in a beam of sunlight, but invisibly tiny flecks of dead and once-living stuff. The author wraps the dusty path of everything in these well-written essays: Build stars from it. Water earth and entomb dinosaurs with it. Start and end ice ages in its flight. Share it worldwide. Kill each other and ourselves with it. Nourish tiny grazers and predators—and the Amazon Basin, and the entire world of grain eaters—on it. Smoke it, eat it, drink it, breathe it, and wear a thin sheath of it all our lives. Return to it at life's end.
It is fitting that this tale of dust begins with the birth of the universe, our sun and the Earth; and ends with death, our own transition to dust, and that of our solar system and of the universe. Holmes makes a good case for the triumph of dust.
She also accuses it of all sorts of villainy. Dust is implicated in the creation of a field of amazing dinosaur fossils in China's Gobi Desert. The best theory is that all these animals were overtaken in the midst of their everyday activities by a massive dry mud-slide as a dune of dusty loess soil suddenly collapsed over them.
Dust is also the root cause of plenty of human misery, from black lung and mesothelioma to asthma and heart disease. Airborne dust has been lofting off the Earth's surface long before there were animals, including humans, around to breathe it in. In fact, humans have evolved to be highly efficient at ridding our bodies of most kinds of dust particles. Eventually, however, the "mucus elevator" fails, and we drown in the dust we've inhaled.
From the personal fight against dust, to the global, Holmes points out that increased clouds of dust may have resulted from the cool air and entrapped water of the Ice Ages, and that dust may then have brought about the death of the glaciers.
Iron-rich dust promotes blooms of carbon-dioxide-spewing phytoplankton (warming), and dust is required to create reflective cloud masses (cooling). She quotes Columbia University's Pierre Biscayne, who works to identify the ancient sources of dust trapped in ice cores from Greenland and Antartica:
This is not a book for the squeamish. If you have not been able to eat sausage since the time you read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle , you may now find the idea of taking deep breaths of sea or woodland air horrifying. Reading this may kindle a desire to remove the carpets, toss your candles in the trash, and convert your fireplace into a cold, clean bed for your pets. You might even hesitate before taking a book down from a dusty shelf.
I recommend reading this excellent book on the Kindle, where it can gather no dust.
Holmes' dust is not the motes you see floating in a beam of sunlight, but invisibly tiny flecks of dead and once-living stuff. The author wraps the dusty path of everything in these well-written essays: Build stars from it. Water earth and entomb dinosaurs with it. Start and end ice ages in its flight. Share it worldwide. Kill each other and ourselves with it. Nourish tiny grazers and predators—and the Amazon Basin, and the entire world of grain eaters—on it. Smoke it, eat it, drink it, breathe it, and wear a thin sheath of it all our lives. Return to it at life's end.
It is fitting that this tale of dust begins with the birth of the universe, our sun and the Earth; and ends with death, our own transition to dust, and that of our solar system and of the universe. Holmes makes a good case for the triumph of dust.
She also accuses it of all sorts of villainy. Dust is implicated in the creation of a field of amazing dinosaur fossils in China's Gobi Desert. The best theory is that all these animals were overtaken in the midst of their everyday activities by a massive dry mud-slide as a dune of dusty loess soil suddenly collapsed over them.
Dust is also the root cause of plenty of human misery, from black lung and mesothelioma to asthma and heart disease. Airborne dust has been lofting off the Earth's surface long before there were animals, including humans, around to breathe it in. In fact, humans have evolved to be highly efficient at ridding our bodies of most kinds of dust particles. Eventually, however, the "mucus elevator" fails, and we drown in the dust we've inhaled.
From the personal fight against dust, to the global, Holmes points out that increased clouds of dust may have resulted from the cool air and entrapped water of the Ice Ages, and that dust may then have brought about the death of the glaciers.
Iron-rich dust promotes blooms of carbon-dioxide-spewing phytoplankton (warming), and dust is required to create reflective cloud masses (cooling). She quotes Columbia University's Pierre Biscayne, who works to identify the ancient sources of dust trapped in ice cores from Greenland and Antartica:
"Climate modelers know dust is important, but it's the least well-known parameter in the Earth's thermal balance. Right now, they don't even know its sign." [Emphasis in original]
This is not a book for the squeamish. If you have not been able to eat sausage since the time you read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle , you may now find the idea of taking deep breaths of sea or woodland air horrifying. Reading this may kindle a desire to remove the carpets, toss your candles in the trash, and convert your fireplace into a cold, clean bed for your pets. You might even hesitate before taking a book down from a dusty shelf.
I recommend reading this excellent book on the Kindle, where it can gather no dust.
September 24, 2015
The Secret Life of Dust (Subtitle: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things) by Hannah Holmes.
Hannah Holmes tome on dust is, for me, a bit of a surprise. I bought it primarily because I have a lifelong allergy to dust (technically, the feces of dust mites, but as a practical matter it amounts to the same thing). I was at first disappointed that she spends a great deal of her time talking about things like space dust, but in time she turned me around. Dust comes in many forms (I was about to say "all shapes and sizes", but actually its shape and size is more or less the definition here). She tells us about how dust coalesces to create stars and planets, how dust blows off deserts or out of volcanoes and circles the globe, altering weather patterns in ways we still understand only in the most hazy (pun intended) fashion. She looks at how dust in our house gets there, and how it has changed in recent decades (thank air conditioning, carpets, and a large variety of household chemicals). She looks at places in China and elsewhere where dust-related disease is already becoming a major health issue. And yes, eventually, she does get around to dust mites. She takes us to talk to many of the world's experts on dust, in its various incarnations (and there are a number of them). Holmes writes with a good bit of wit, but also introduces us to a number of good detective stories, as researcher after researcher starts looking into dust and finding that it can travel further, and interact with us in more ways, than we realized.
Hannah Holmes tome on dust is, for me, a bit of a surprise. I bought it primarily because I have a lifelong allergy to dust (technically, the feces of dust mites, but as a practical matter it amounts to the same thing). I was at first disappointed that she spends a great deal of her time talking about things like space dust, but in time she turned me around. Dust comes in many forms (I was about to say "all shapes and sizes", but actually its shape and size is more or less the definition here). She tells us about how dust coalesces to create stars and planets, how dust blows off deserts or out of volcanoes and circles the globe, altering weather patterns in ways we still understand only in the most hazy (pun intended) fashion. She looks at how dust in our house gets there, and how it has changed in recent decades (thank air conditioning, carpets, and a large variety of household chemicals). She looks at places in China and elsewhere where dust-related disease is already becoming a major health issue. And yes, eventually, she does get around to dust mites. She takes us to talk to many of the world's experts on dust, in its various incarnations (and there are a number of them). Holmes writes with a good bit of wit, but also introduces us to a number of good detective stories, as researcher after researcher starts looking into dust and finding that it can travel further, and interact with us in more ways, than we realized.
June 4, 2007
A couple years ago, a high school friend gave me this book by a Maine author. Skeptical at first that I wouldn't find much interest in this book dedicated to dust, I wound up devouring every particle, every detail. A humorous, all though scientific, look at the specks and bunnies that inhabit our world and their effect on our everyday lives as well as their effects on the planet as a whole. If Holmes can make dust exciting, just imagine the possibilities!
...Yes, it will make you this excited about dust.
Excerpt:
[whenever a dust scholar is able tease out the chemical fingerprint of a grain of space dust, she comes a little bit closer to understanding the origins of our world.
That is the secret of our past.
The secret of our futures-our personal, individual futures-is also circulating invisibly beneath our noses. Just as the dust of dinosaurs now roams the air, so, too, will the dust of a decayed you.:]
...Yes, it will make you this excited about dust.
Excerpt:
[whenever a dust scholar is able tease out the chemical fingerprint of a grain of space dust, she comes a little bit closer to understanding the origins of our world.
That is the secret of our past.
The secret of our futures-our personal, individual futures-is also circulating invisibly beneath our noses. Just as the dust of dinosaurs now roams the air, so, too, will the dust of a decayed you.:]
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