Symphony in C: Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything

by Robert M. Hazen

Carbon provides the most important chemical link across time and space, from the Big Bang to the evolution of life on earth. This celebration and exploration of the element for the general reader is divided into four sections, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. It explains the central role carbon played in the formation of the universe and its importance to the ecology of the planet today, and gives an overview of current research in carbon science.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Chemistry, History, Biology, Evolution, Geology

304 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

Robert M. Hazen, Senior Research Scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Geophysical Laboratory and the Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, received the B.S. and S.M. in geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1971), and the Ph.D. at Harvard University in earth science (1975). The Past President of the Mineralogical Society of America, Hazen’s recent research focuses on the possible roles of minerals in the origin of life. He is also Principal Investigator of the Deep Carbon Observatory.

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Hazen clearly loves his subject - his fascination with mineralogy, chemistry and geology shines through in this book. And there's a lot to discover here. But, strangely, that enthusiasm is one of the two reasons I had a bit of a problem with Symphony in C. I am passionate about Tudor and Elizabethan church music - but I am conscious of the fact that most people glaze over after I've raved about it for two minutes. Sadly, earth sciences cover arguably the dullest aspects of science to the general public, and though there were many individual parts of the book that did engage me, only a geologist could love the coverage of what seemed like many (many) minerals in the opening section.

The other issue I had was a lack of coherent structure. This might seem strange, as the book has a very definite themed plan. It's based on a four-movement symphony (in his spare time Hazen is a semi-professional classical musician), with the four movements representing the old pre-scientific elements of earth, air, fire and water. But the trouble is that this musical analogy is strained way beyond breaking point. It's used as a way to break the book up, but it bears no real resemblance to the content, and some of the sub-sections (named with musical-theory-like names, such as 'prelude', 'exposition', 'development' and 'coda') seem to be almost random collections of information.

Perhaps my favourite parts were in the 'air' section - where Hazen writes about both where out atmosphere came from and the origins of natural gas and oil - and in fire section where he brings in, for example, that fascinating substance graphene. But even though there is lots of genuinely interesting material, there was, to use his terminology, far too much adagio and not enough allegro. The writing is drawn out at great length, making it tempting to shout 'Get to the point!' Sometimes Hazen gets onto a really interesting story - for example, describing the debate over whether natural gas primarily originates from biological matter or from earth processes, but the narrative suddenly switches to something else without ever coming to a conclusion.

One last moan - I really wish all the measurements weren't solely in US domestic units - all temperatures, for example, are only given in Fahrenheit - which is very irritating.

I wouldn't want to put anyone off. There's lots, for example, on Hazen's 'Deep Carbon Observatory', which is a fascinating cross-discipline endeavour looking at sub-surface carbon on the Earth. And Hazen successfully shows how and why carbon is so crucial to life and so special among the elements. But I found reading the book far more of a chore than it ought to have been.

[Jorge Zuluaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Que libro tan maravilloso!

Si les gustan las ciencias naturales y la buena divulgación científica tienen que escuchar esta sinfonía en Carbono, el más increíble elemento químico del Universo.

El libro está increíblemente bien escrito, el lenguaje es accesible y los temas y datos que divulga el autor están muy bien documentados. Y no es para menos, Robert Hazen no solo es un avezado divulgador –a posteriori descubrí que ha escrito una decena de libros que ahora buscaré–, sino que Hazen además es una de las autoridades mundiales en el ciclo profundo del Carbono y uno de los líderes del Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), un proyecto cuyos resultados se divulgan ampliamente aquí.

Me encanto el capítulo dedicado al origen y evolución de la vida. Por mis trabajo de investigación en Ciencias Planetarias y astrobiologia me preciaba de estar bien informado en el tema. Sin embargo, al leer la síntesis de Hazen sobre el tema comprendí aspectos del problema que se me habían escapado hasta ahora. Solo por ese capítulo, este libro vale la pena ser leído por colegas en el area y naturalmente por estudiantes de ciencias. Por lo menos yo lo recomendaré en mis cursos.

Lamentablemente no pude encontrar la versión de este libro en castellano. Si bien se podría pensar que un libro de divulgación en inglés se deja leer fácilmente, el estilo del autor y la inclusión de anécdotas sobre las personas que rodean las investigaciones que divulga, hace que algunos apartes no se entiendan fácilmente si no eres bilingüe. Yo no soporto no entender el 100% de lo que leo. A pesar de esto, la mayor parte del libro, que abunda en datos y explicaciones científicas asombrosas, es fácil de seguir aún si no eres bilingüe.

La organización del libro es asombrosa. Robert Hazen es musico y ha decidido presentar los temas como si se tratara de una sinfonía, es decir con la clásica estructura de movimientos, que a su vez se componen de temas, su desarrollo, variaciones sobre esos mismos temas, etc.

Me sorprendió todo lo que leí aquí de mineralogía. Otra vez, por mi trabajo de investigación se suponía que estaba familiarizado con algunas ideas básicas del tema. Sin embargo, descubrí que la riqueza y complejidad de los minerales en nuestro planeta es mucho más basta de lo que pensaba ¡increíble!

El texto confirmó una intuición que repetía, no sin algunas dudas, en mis clases y conferencias, a saber, la idea de que cada planeta en el Universo es completamente único. Robert Hazen lo confirma aquí al explicar que por el número y diversidad de los minerales y por sus condiciones increíblemente específicas de cristalización, es posible que no haya dos Tierras en el Universo observable que sean completamente idénticas, al menos desde el punto de vista de los minerales que los conforman. ¡Genial!

Recomendado a ojo cerrado.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Symphony in C: Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything, by Robert M. Hazen, is an interesting book on the importance and prevalence of Carbon to life on Earth. This was a wonderfully informative book for a science layman like myself. I have some familiarity with basic chemistry and biology from my years in school, but this is not a topic I interact with overtly on a daily basis. This book covered a wide array of topics, organized in a fairly unique way - following the stanzas of an orchestra. Hanzen is an eccentric; his love of many topics, and passion for mineralogy and the study of crystals, has transcended just this seemingly constrained field. Life on Earth is carbon based - all the processes, structures, systems and components that make life possible are either made of, or interact with, carbon systems. Carbon is a unique element - its atomic structure ensures that it is constantly looking to reach a stable atomic number, but it is at the midpoint of 2, and 10, the sweet spots for stable elements. This ensures it can take a variety of methods, from shedding, to gaining, to interacting with numerous other elements, compounds, and itself. This atomic flexibility means carbon is found in numerous processes, molecules, compounds and biological materials globally, and was and is instrumental in the processes of life.

This book discusses these concepts in four parts - Earth, Air, Fire and Water. These sections focus on the crust and mantle, the atmosphere, human production, and life respectively. Carbon is a major component in the Earth's crust and mantle, and many interesting crystals and minerals contain carbon. Hazen is part of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), and organization looking to examine and learn more about the numerous mineral and crystal interactions of carbon. There are thousands of carbon crystals. Most are from just a few types of carbon compounds spread liberally throughout the world, but the majority of the thousands of species of carbon crystals are rare, some located in just one place in the world, and formed from interesting and very local conditions and interactions. Volcanic lakes, rare microorganisms and so on all have the potential to create rare and interesting minerals. Much is unknown about carbon and its mineralogy. Numerous species of crystals are theorized, but have yet to be observed in nature. And the function and composition of the Earth's mantle is theorized but generally unknown.

Air - the atmosphere, is made up mostly of Nitrogen, with large concentrations of oxygen and of course, carbon. One of the hot topics right now is climate change. Carbon is an important component of this. It is one of the main components of many greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane. These two in particular are the most prevalent. Although natural components of the atmosphere, human life has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by a large margin, due to our use of fossil fuels. Humans expel more carbon into the atmosphere than all natural processes can annually, and have been doing so for over one hundred years. This has pushed the carbon levels in the atmosphere to much higher levels than they have been in our timeline, although the Earth has experienced atmospheric carbon before. However, this was well before the development of life as we know it. Our use of carbon has probably tipped the carbon cycle - the process that carbon goes through from mantle to atmosphere and back - to areas not seen in some time. The consequences to this are unclear, although a shift in climate patterns is almost certain.

Fire - humans use of carbon and carbonate materials in our industrial processes, and also as the basic block of construction for many molecular structures. This was an interesting and speculative section that examines carbon as a material in many processes. Its bonding ability makes it a key component in many systems. It is intimately tied to our energy processes. While we may be looking to switch over to more renewable fuels, carbon is present in the foundation and composition of windmills, the infrastructure of solar panels, the input of biofuels and so on.

Finally Water - the most big brained section of the book. This is an examination and sometimes musing on life, its composition, how it may have formed, and what it may look like not just on Earth, but throughout our universe. We know life is carbon based on Earth, and Hazen speculates are to how biological materials may have moved from puddles of goo without the ability to reproduce, to living creatures. This process may have happened due to the particular makeup of cells and their need to protect themselves from environmental changes. The development of cell walls to protect molecular material, the joining together of similar molecules to form larger components, the birth of symbiotic relationships where some molecules perform tasks that benefit others, then to organelles, and finally more recognizable life. Something happened here, and we cannot be quite sure of what, although scientists have a much clearer picture than they did 30 years ago. At one time, a debate raged between scientists who believed life was formed from organic materials interacting in calm, sun bathed ponds, and those that believed that life developed due to geothermal venting in the oceans. Both seem likely, and they certainly may both have been correct. This binary debate is not useful, as it constricts the potentially complex situations that encouraged life to emerge. Hazen notes the difficulty with trying to recreate the development of life in the laboratory. This however, may be due to the need for a very large amount of time - it seems life may have developed due to the interactions of molecules and organic compounds in an environment that was both stable for long periods of time, but had enough environmental variability to ensure the need and ability to mutate or potentially build beneficial structures.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I could've picked this up just for the title, which I thought was clever. But of course, carbon is an intensely important element for life, so it ties in very much with my interest in biology -- no carbon, no us! -- and it didn't seem like it'd be too far off the random path of my current interests. Which proved to be mostly true: I found it harder going than a book about biology, my preferred science, but Hazen's enthusiasm for his subject carried me along to a great extent.

Often enthusiasm gives life to writing, but I did find that there were bits of this I got a bit stuck on just through not getting involved enough... and knowing that e.g. Richard Fortey can get me excited about rocks with the way he writes, that I do put down to a certain dryness in the writing. Oddly enough, it was the parts on biology I yawned through; I don't need the facts to be new to me, but if you're explaining to me about why carbon is the ideal element for life, I need you to make it more exciting than my textbook. (This may not be fair, as I find certain aspects of my textbooks very exciting. The membrane attack complex is a marvel! No, friends who have been subject to me exclaiming about the MAC -- I'm not over it yet! Biology is amazing!)

Anyway, if you're interested in carbon, in the history of how we understand carbon as well as the current state of the field, it's not a bad read. It's lacking in tables and images that can really talk people through the data rather than just explaining like a story, so it's very pop-science in that sense, so I'm not sure how much of it will stick for me. The symphony conceit got old for me/didn't always feel like the right way to balance/organise the material, but I learned some new things and cemented some others in my mind, and really, that's all I ask.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the record, I won a free ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

The subtitle, “Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything,” isn't just hyperbole. Carbon is one of the most common elements in the universe, and is a basic building block of life as we know it. As executive director of the Deep Carbon Observatory, Hazen is able to show the importance of this element in an array of scientific disciplines: physics, geology, biochemistry, paleontology, and more.

The book is themed around the four classical elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The Earth chapters cover the origins of the element itself in the Big Bang and countless stellar furnaces, crystal formation, and what is known and unknown about carbon deep in the Earth’s mantle and core. Air looks at carbon in the atmosphere, including its role in climate change. Fire looks at the role of carbon in manufacturing, both material goods and power generation. Water explores carbon’s role in biochemistry and the origins of life.

Symphony in C is a fascinating book, somewhat reminiscent of Carl Sagan’s classic Cosmos in terms of its sweep and scope and ability to awe and delight. Hazen has a knack for explaining things clearly and concisely, and his enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. I found this to be a highly enjoyable book. Recommended!

[AnnaG · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quirky book jumping around between science areas affected by carbon - from cosmology to the origins of life, gemstones to plastics it's an engaging journey through scientific discovery. The structure of the book is rather eccentric - based around a 4 part musical symphony, but that actually adds a light refreshing tone to a solid science book.

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an undergraduate I only took two science courses - Biology and Geology. I took one year of High School Chemistry. Hazen is the director of the Deep Carbon Observatory but is also a master story teller. The book is divided into sections which cover various aspects of the sixth element on the Periodic Table and the fourth most common element in the universe.

Hazen tells the story of how carbon influences our lives. He also describes the carbon cycle - it is always busy combining or recombining with other elements in wonderful ways. For a non-scientist this is a marvelous book to get some basics on this essential part of our life.

The one science I excelled in in College was Geology. At the end of the course you had a minerals test - which gave you samples to identify and I thought that was way cool. Hazen thinks the same - he has some really good descriptions of minerals and why they have the properties they do. He also does some speculations on the origins of life.

I enjoyed this book immensely.

[Peter Tillman]

Review at Science magazine:
https://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/20...
Excerpt:
"Hazen brings a distinct and intentionally personal perspective to this topic as head of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), which brings together hundreds of scientists around the world to understand how carbon moves in all its forms in and around our planet. In 2015, the DCO started the “Carbon Mineral Challenge” to find the almost 150 carbon-containing minerals predicted to exist on or near Earth’s surface. Some of these predicted minerals, including a sodium lead carbonate called abellaite and green middlebackite, have already been found."

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating account of everything science for the non-scientist.

[Megan Sager · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ I loved the beginning & the end of this book. But the middle was ehhh. Felt a little messy. Almost had too much information and went into detail about so many specific people and their studies. But some parts were explained perfectly and were straight to the point. The ending was beautiful and honestly poetic. We come from the stars and share carbon with everyone and everything we will ever love!!

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enthusiastic and well-written discussion of carbon's role on earth and occasionally in the cosmos. As Principal Investigator at the Deep Carbon Observatory he not only gives general information on this element in many contexts but also highlights the Observatory's recent discoveries, how they were made and the scientists who made them. I enjoyed this book very much.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inspiring and humbling read about deep time, deep (local) space, and deep ecology on Earth. It gives perspective and optimism (maybe even solutions) about the human impacts on earth. Not a technically challenging book as I had expected from the cover. It's good for high school kids or younger or a very quick read for adults. I appreciate when "science" books do not contain mostly travelogue or memoir type filler content.

[Kirk Dobihal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most excellent book on carbon I have come across. Wish I had access to this when years ago I was taking organic chem in college. Will help if you have some experience in the field of chemistry and biology but don't let this put you off this is a book for the layman, non-scienced (I know that isn't a word, but should be). I also think R. M. Hazen would be a great professor to have learned from.

[hweatherfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was fun - a really great new book thats worth checking out. Learned some things I never knew before, and now have a deeper appreciation of the chemistry and its history around me. Now I realize the truth about how life is very fragile and kept going only by the pieces of science coming together harmoniously to keep it going. Stylistically the author's themes of music were woven in a clever way and I feel like it gave a spiritual perspective of the greater picture. At times I feel like more visuals could have really pulled it together more, but the information was presented in an accessible way and was nonetheless enjoyable.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

* For readers curious about how did Life actually get started anyway and is it likely to be elsewhere in the universe? It is a journey back in "Deep Time"
The author is a mineralogist and a deep thinker about the origins of life. In the book he points out the ordered nature of atoms in minerals as well as the ability of minerals to adsorb biofilms. Clays in particular have large surface areas that adsorb and order bio-molecules. And that minerals have abundant elements that catalyze chemical reactions. He speculates that minerals such as brucite can put order into adherent amino acids and/or RNA. He says that earth-like planets possess fine-grained clays with immense total surface areas that are many millions of times greater than the idealized surface area of a planet. So, even a modest sized planet can combine and shuffle organic molecules over and over again, effectively attempting chemical reactions more than a trillion trillion trillion trillion times. This means that expecting to reproduce the "origin event" in a laboratory are really highly improbable. Unless you winnow down the key molecular species from what we know life uses and employ new approaches in combinatorial chemistry, coupled with computational chemistry one may be able to narrow in on how life got started. Or at least how some of the molecules started to self-replicate. I gather people are using these same techniques to understanding the binding to mineral (e.g. brucite) surface and then looking to see if this enhances the possibility of RNA or other biomaterial to polymerize. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30048... In the intro to this paper it says "The surface of this mineral is able to induce well-defined orientations of the molecules through specific molecule-mineral interactions. This result suggests plausible roles of the mineral brucite in assisting prebiotic molecular self-organization"

[Jack Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Symphony in C; Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything
Robert M. Hazen, 2019
Once in a great while I come across a book that I would categorize as brilliant; brilliant in the sense that it reveals a new and unique way of looking at a subject that is transformative to the reader where scientific knowledge becomes wisdom. The author is a geologist who is part of a research consortium formed in 2008 of over 1000 scientists from around the world whose mission is to investigate the fundamental mysteries “of carbon at a planetary scale not just in biology, but also in physics, chemistry and geology” Why carbon? Because it is the ubiquitous element that not only plays a huge part in the geologic processes of the earth but is also the basis of all life and earth and probably all life in the universe if it exists. This book is a compendium of over the ten years of research of the international project; the DCO; The Deep Carbon Observatory.
The author in addition to being an eminent scientist is also a symphony musician and this is what makes his approach to this subject so unique and beautiful. He chose to structure his book as a symphony in four movements. “Ancient scholars postulated the existence of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water – each an essence with a distinctive characteristic, each an irreducible component of the universe, but collectively the source of all material creation. Carbon, alone among all four classical elements, displays all four classical elements, which suggest a four - movement framework” or symphony.
The first movement of his symphony is “Earth”. In this movement the latest data on the formation of the universe, the big bang, the formation of stars and the formation of planets is played. Carbon is formed in the thermonuclear reactions within stars and is an incredibly unique element because it lacks 4 electrons in its outer valence ring. This gives carbon a unique ability to bond with many different elements in multi-varied configurations and geometries. Carbon it turns out is a very prolific within the earth’s crust and mantle but not by itself. It forms over 400 different kinds of mineral species- “hundreds of crystalline forms, each a unique combination of chemical composition and crystal structure”. Because of the dynamic nature of earths tectonic plates these carbon elements are constantly being deposited on the surface and subsumed below in an endless recycling process. When you are looking at El Capitan, the cliffs of Dover or the Washington Monument you are looking at recycled carbon compounds.
The second movement is “Air”. What is the origin of our atmosphere? Research indicates that the ancient atmosphere was composed of mainly nitrogen and carbon compounds along with some sulfur compounds. After the catastrophic collision 4.5 million years ago with the planetoid that formed the moon the ancient atmosphere was reconstituted by recycled gases ejected from volcanoes. Oxygen in the atmosphere would have to wait for another 2 billion years for the advent of chloroplasts but what the author makes clear is that the vast majority of carbon resides buried beneath the earth. Carbon dioxide expelled by volcanoes is constantly recycled by the formation of limestone, dead marine creatures and reefs that is constantly subsumed back below the earth at subduction zones. This carbon cycle has persisted and increased and decreased over millenniums but now a new player has entered the realm, humans. Today humans emit 100, s of times more carbon into the atmosphere than the natural volcanic emissions. “The doubling of carbon in the air and the consequent warming of the globe is unprecedented. Humans are conducting a geo-engineering experiment without parallel and without a safety net; the unintended consequences have already begun to appear”.
Movement III is “Fire”. Carbon is chemically very reactive. “Fire- energy- is the currency of industry and commerce. Fire drives our trucks and buses, lights our streets and building’ heats our homes and Carbon, transformed by the refiners fire, supplies the raw essence of almost everything”. Our modern world of mega-wealth, plastics, mega-buildings, cars, jet airplanes and 7.5 billion people would not be possible but for the burning of carbon. Movement III contains a scherzo – “Useful Stuff”. Things we take for granted: plastics, lubricants, fabrics, cosmetics are only possible due to the polymerization properties of carbon, properties that nature discovered long ago in the creation on sinews, hair membranes etc.. Coming: nano-carbon compounds with possible miracle-like properties.
Movement IV is “Water” Carbon without water cannot create life. Carbon with water can devise its most creative compositions, the myriad and indigenous varieties, and forms of life on earth. This is the most fascinating part of the book. It details the latest research on the emergence in life on earth and how all life lives through the constant recycling of carbon energy. We are connected to all life on earth through our common carbon heritage. “All of your life you have consumed new carbon atoms while shedding old carbon atoms. How ephemeral our bodies are! Few of the atoms, the molecules that are you today, will still be you if you should live another decade. We humans are quick to equate our bodies with the essence of ourselves. Our minds are separate, our thoughts uniquely our own , but the atoms in our bodies are as fleeting as the breeze, And where are those atoms now – the atoms that were , until a short time ago, part of you? Some are in the air or dissolved in the oceans. Some may be locked in the carbonate shells of clams and snails. Many of the trillions and trillions of the carbon atoms that were once you now reside in the stems, leaves and flowers and roots of plants --- Every person on Earth, anyone who has eaten the plants that were once you hold the carbon atoms that were once them- atoms of everyone ever known – your friends, your lovers, almost anyone who has ever lived. In a way Reincarnation?
Music is composed of the combination of notes and pauses over time that form coherent, structured, harmonic compositions. The carbon compounds of life, like notes of music, are constantly combined over time into new forms and compositions played over and over and turned into ever more beautiful and unique riffs. For a science book – this is a unique and interesting analogy. If all of us could realize that we are not a separate biological entity, but that we are intimately connected to all life including the quadrillions of creatures in the microscopic biome. If we destroy the ecosystems of which we are a part, in the end we destroy ourselves. JACK

[Ashar Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is an amazing book. Reads great. Stresses on the importance of Carbon as a whole in the biosphere. It leaves the reader wanting more. Definitely worth a read.

[Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to give this book two stars because it could have been quite good. The topic of geological processes and mineralogy are interesting. In particular, I find high pressure mineralogy interesting, and that is the author's personal specialty. Unfortunately, the book always seemed to treat the topics very superficially, never quite going into sufficient depth to satisfy me. That's ironic for a book largely about deep geological processes. Perhaps the author was just pitching this book to a more less sophisticated general audience. Perhaps he set the scope too broadly. Whatever the cause, I ended up interested but unsatisfied.

[Caroline Ludden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book about how carbon cycles through the Earth, where it comes from, why it's so important. I am not a geologist or mineralogist and found the first two "movements" fascinating. However, I AM an ecologist and am already familiar with geological basics. For those who don't have a background in life or earth sciences, you might have to google a bit.

Only four stars because he should have spent more time on plants. Photosynthesis is so important! Deserves as much attention as graphite! Perhaps I'm biased, since I spend my days thinking about plants and photosynthetic rates.

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A grand overview of an ambitious global research programme, Symphony in C amazes with its new findings and explains why and how carbon is at the heart of pretty much everything. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2019...

[Sunhawk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, my sense is that the author was encouraged to write a "popular" book by his foundation supporters, but never got clear about why a book was needed (other than to laud the foundational sponsors) or who its readers were meant to be. Furthermore, much of the book reads as if the author would rather be playing music, out rock-hounding, or doing actual science in his lab.
Nevertheless, he's an interesting guy who's working on a rapidly moving edge of science, and couldn't help delivering a worthwhile read to folks (like me) who love to read about new discoveries and hypotheses. Try this on for size: maybe fossil fuels aren't really "dead dinosaurs" (they never were) or entirely made up of compressed foliage like we were told in fourth grade, but are at least partially the result of natural geologic processes? Doesn't excuse us from the error of digging up and burning a few million years' effort to get that toxic stuff safely buried, as the author periodically points out ...or the mistake we're making in burning the stuff as fast as we can when we should be preserving it as feedstock for innumerable future products that won't foul the atmosphere.
The author spends quite a few pages discussing the book's hero, the Carbon atom, and its likely role as the key ingredient in the emergence of life: "The earliest stages of Earth's chemical evolution--the emergent steps leading to life--involved trying and rejecting vast numbers of molecular arrangements until one exceptional consortium of molecules began to copy itself." [p201] There's a whisper of the flaw that mars this book for me: Who was doing the trying and rejecting? I am captivated, however, by that notion of a "consortium of molecules" and the whole field of speculation about the origin (can't say that word without thinking "oranges" with gratitude for our national liberation from trumpishness!)... er, as I was writing, the origins of life, and whether it's likely been replicated elsewhere in the universe.
Hazen tells us that Carbon "wants" to combine with other atoms, and the fur on the back of my neck bristles, that the researchers into the origins are engaged in a game. He doesn't seem to understand that his likely readers, having read better written books, may understand enough about valences and probabilistic electrons to find these anthropocentricities out of place in a book about science. While much of this book is stimulating, there's a little too much awkwardness in the choice of journalistic language, the way the book is jammed uncomfortably into its symphonic metaphor, to earn it more than two stars from me.
Here's another striking finding that wasn't part of my formal education: somewhere between 10% and 20% of the Earth's total biomass -- the consortia that have "learned" how to reproduce (Hazen's pathetic fallacy again; I think his readers know better) -- inhabit a "deep zombie-sphere" a mile or more down inside the crust, as deep as two kilometers down. (Another confusion: choose your measurement system and stick with it, pleas!) There's much more about this silent population of slow-living lifeforms that reproduce as slowly, perhaps, as once every thousand years. Another clue for me that the author was filling pages: he introduces many scientists, refreshingly biased toward women, but wastes valuable ink telling us that, for example, the coiner of "zombie-sphere" Steven D'Hondt "sports a shock of unruly hair" and a "spontaneous broad smile." That assessment in no way enhances my appreciation of the science.
This could have been a much better book.

[Aine · Rating 3 out of 5]

“We must, each of us, step back from the urgency of our desires to see our precious planetary home as a unique, but vulnerable, dwelling place. If we are wise, if we can temper our wants with a renewed sense of awe and wonder, if we can learn to cherish our rhapsodically beautiful carbon-rich world as it so urgently deserves, then we may hope to leave an unrivalled, priceless legacy for our children, their children, and all the generations to come.”

This was an enjoyable read from an author who clearly is so enthusiastic about his topic. But when dealing with topics that are so far from my comfort zone I think it’s useful to walk away asking what have I actually learnt here, apart from the important of funding?

Earth - the sheer diversity of carbon minerals is both amazing and reveal how Earth was formed.

Air - Earth’s carbon came from space, originating in solar wind, in meteorites, and in comets. The carbon cycle consists of varied reservoirs of carbon atoms and movements of those atoms between reservoirs (and Earth’s deep carbon should be considered as part of these cycles).

Fire - so many of our commodities, and the energy to run or produce them, comes from carbon. (“The resulting carbon-based chemicals provide the foundation for modern industry - an industry that relies on hydrocarbons as the essential raw materials. And here we come to an important realization: Eventually, we must stop burning coal and oil. Cute the environment if you will - and to be sure, concerns about effects of burning fossil fuels in the environment are real - but the simple truth is that carbon-carbon bonds in coal and oil will eventually become much too valuable to burn. These ubiquitous bonds between carbon atoms are the most essential chemical characteristic of our material world; they lie at the heart of almost every product that we consume in our lives.”).

Water - Carbon has the right properties to be central to life’s origins: it is reasonably abundant (widely available in Earth’s crust, oceans and atmosphere), has the potential to undergo lots of chemical reactions, and isn’t so reactive that it would burst into flames or explode at the slightest chemical provocation.

While the four movements sometimes made it a less-than-straightforward read, the structure also added to the understanding of carbon being part of everything. A book to return to.

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful tribute to the element carbon. What Oliver Sacks did with the periodic table in the context of an amateur playing with chemicals in a backyard garage, Hazen does with a multimillion dollar endowment and the fanciest lab equipment needed for the focused task of carbon. And music features for both authors, although Sacks wrote up his piece in a separate book rather than giving something of the synthesis of Symphony.

In my first geology lecture at university, the professor outlined how geology was the foundation of all the sciences. He was enjoying the game each of the faculties played, but Hazen comes close to demonstrating that mineralogy, if not geology, might well come close to being a central facet of the universe. With carbon interwoven into the whole shebang. It's been there from very early on, and has gone on to be part of stellar evolution, a part of each layer of the earth, and through the first biochemicals, responsible for an oxygenated atmosphere and most of the subsequent mineral diversity we are now familiar with.

The story is not academic in style, but well referenced and thoroughly grounded in the relevant sciences. Hazen does biographies nicely also, ensuring that key scientists, often collaborators, enjoy nice cameos for their roles in the story. I read an ebook version, so this detracted from the experience to an extent: the graphics were all sitting at the end of the text, when they could have been given, at the very least, a hyperlink as were the footnotes.

While this is a book most science aficionados should enjoy, I'd say it's definitely one for mineralogists. I still have a number of questions from the book and may even try and write to the author sometime to see if he can clarify them for me. I'd definitely love to do some work the labs, although I don't like my chances of that. Will have to see if I can come up with some good enough questions.

[B. Rule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazen's symphonic conceit doesn't extend to much more than the chapter titles, but it's a fun organization nonetheless. The first two "movements" are the best parts of the book, probably because they're closest to his mineralogical heart. I found the discussions of how carbon formed, how it behaves chemically, and carbon cycles related to volcanoes, subduction, and the deep structures of the planet beneath our feet, to be the most fascinating and passionate parts of the writing. The chapter on materials science was surprisingly weak, really consisting of little more than a list of some of the myriad carbon components in everything around us. The last chapter, on the beginning of life and its evolution, was a decent short overview of the topic. I've read better books that focus specifically on that story, but Hazen gives a good summary.

One of the most endearing features of Hazen's writing is his generous capsule biographies of other scientists. It's nice to give them a moment in the spotlight and it humanizes the imposing edifice of professional science for the reader. Hazen endeavors to include several important women who often get short shrift, so that was definitely appreciated. This isn't the greatest science book but it's a cool approach that crosses more specialization boundaries than most. It's a bit of a dud in cultivating that ever-elusive sensawunda, but not for lack of trying. Worth reading if you want a high level account of the systems of the natural world woven around and into us, although it may only whet your appetite for more detail elsewhere. 3.5/5

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Я прямо розчарована. До "Симфонії вуглецю" я підходила з доволі високими очікуваннями, бо кілька років тому читала "Історію Землі". Ц�� книга, попри халтурний переклад і відсутність редактури як такої, була насичена інформацією та дуже, дуже захопливо написана.
Однак, "Симфонія вуглецю" виявилась геть іншою. Шалений об'єм в 258 сторінок (реально, там далі йде список джерел, подяки, оце от все) автор набивав такою водянистою водою, що студентським рефератам і курсачам навіть не снилось. Гейзен не може просто розказати про чиєсь наукове відкриття, ні, він почне розповідати, де народився науковець, про якого йде мова, в якій сім'ї зростав, де вчився, чим захоплювався, і от нахіба мені це все? Також в Гейзена звідкись взялась звичка повторювати одне й те ж саме по кілька разів. При чому це може стосуватись як, власне, вуглецю, так і ілюстративних прикладів з життя. Наприклад в одному з останніх розділів під назвою "Вуглецевий цикл людини" Гейзен розповідає про свого померлого від раку брата, а потім розказує, що ж далі сталось із вуглецем з його організму. Здавалося б, тут і зупинись. Але ніт - ловіть ще аналогічну історію про смерть домашньої улюблениці. Ну от нашо?
З іншого боку, дійсно в книзі дійсно була цікава інформація про дослідження вуглецю. Якби ж хтось окремо зробив якусь брошурку сторінок на сто тільки з нею - вийшов би коротенький, але класний нон-фікшн.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Elementary, My Dear Watson” - Sherlock Holmes.

I enjoy discovering the skinny on the history of items (especially elements).

The first stop on any book is a visit with the author. In this case Robert M. Hazen. He has an impressive list of relevant publications. This includes some “Great Courses” presentations where you can see him for yourself.

We get all (well almost) things carbon from history to its uses to speculations. There are a few simple compound formulas but no exotic diagrams. The history is not a history of peoples and their interaction with carbon as trade. The focus is on carbon itself.

The book is written in four sections that do not imply chronological order:
Movement I – Earth: Carbon, the Element of Crystals
Movement II – Air: Carbon, the Element of Cycles
Movement III – Fire: Carbon, the Element of Stuff
Movement IV – Water: Carbon, the Element of Life

A good number of notes are found at the back of the book and not footnotes so you have to keep your finger back there while reading. The bibliography is tied up in the footnote.

There is an excellent index.

[Nola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Symphony in C is esoteric. I had no idea there was an institute to study carbon. The concepts in this book of carbon’s relation with the minerals of the earth and it’s presence in the interior are all new ideas to me. I was excited when I started the book because of it’s relevance to climate change and I enjoyed reading about really cool crystals that I had never heard of. Reading the book turned into a bit of a slog. Since it approaches carbon from such a different angle, I really had to pay attention while reading to understand what was being said. There were a few terms I didn’t understand, but I could follow most of it. I didn’t expect it to go into questions of what life is, whether there is life on other planets, or even how life began on Earth, but it does. I do enjoy the explanation of how special carbon is for life on Earth and the brief vignettes of scientists (many at the Institute) who do research on different aspects of carbon. It does seem important to know how much carbon is released by volcanos and how much is buried deep within the earth and for how long. Not the lightest read, but worthwhile.

[Rob O'Hearn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Geological Society (UK) chose 2019 as their Year of Carbon. Why not celebrate it by reading this splendid collection of carbon (the main constituent of a paperback)?

Esteemed scientist, author, and classical musician Robert M. Hazen sees carbon as the symphony that weaves together the themes of the many other chemical elements, giving them the chance to become beautiful forms. Symphony in C explores these forms through its sections on earth, air, fire, and water; all ‘movements’ being crucial to life and ubiquitous. The narrative of the book ranges widely: from the ancient origins to the latest in complex polymers, from the building blocks of our bodies to our biggest environmental threat. Our challenging times have emphasised how little we know about carbon, and how we had better get on with the job of finding out more.

This fascinating book is timely, jargon-free, and very readable. Tipped by many to be the science book of the year, it is a great read for Father’s Day too, full of fun facts and anecdotes.

[Kelvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful exposition of the role of carbon in the formation of the universe, the Earth, mineral diversity, and of life itself.

The author strikes the delicate balance between scientific objectivity and personality, via stories from the field from him (a mineralogist) and his colleagues (volcanologists, evolutionary biologists, chemists, etc).

Having some background in chemistry makes this book read more like prose and less like technical gibberish. Although, adding diagrams would help to illustrate some of the concepts mentioned in the book (e.g. redux reactions in the formation of minerals.

My favourite of the many takeaways from this book is that the Earth’s mineral diversity follows a zipf distribution — a few minerals are common, but most minerals are exceedingly rare. A few can only be found at one location with specific temperature, pressure, and mineral compositional constraints. What a gift such minerals would make :)

Overall, a captivating and informative read!

[Juan Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in high school, organic chemistry —the chemistry of carbon— was my biggest academic struggle. I thought I would never want to revisit the subject again… until this book completely changed my mind.

Robert Hazen takes us on an extraordinary journey: from the Big Bang and the creation of carbon, to how it arrived on Earth and transformed our planet. Some sections are dense, but they open up fascinating questions:
• How was carbon created, the fourth most abundant element in the universe?
• How did it reach Earth?
• How can something inanimate turn into life?

The part about the origins of life is particularly captivating. Even though there are no definitive answers, the speculations keep curiosity alive. I also found it striking to learn how oil and coal were formed —and sobering to realize how quickly we are depleting them while damaging our own future.

Symphony in C is a brilliant book that weaves together science, Earth’s history, and the big existential questions. For anyone who loves science, this is a must-read.