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Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past And Will Shape Our Future
An ecologist explores how life itself shapes Earth using the elemental constituents we all share
It is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. Elemental reveals how microbes, plants, and people used the fundamental building blocks of life to alter the climate, and with it, the trajectory of life on Earth in the past, present, and future.
Taking readers from the deep geologic past to our current era of human dominance, Stephen Porder focuses on five of life’s essential elements―hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. He describes how single-celled cyanobacteria and plants harnessed them to wildly proliferate across the oceans and the land, only to eventually precipitate environmental catastrophes. He then brings us to the present, and shows how these elements underpin the success of human civilization, and how their mismanagement threatens similarly catastrophic unintended consequences. But, Porder argues, if we can learn from our world-changing predecessors, we can construct a more sustainable future.
Blending conversational storytelling with the latest science, Porder takes us deep into the Amazon, across fresh lava flows in Hawaii, and to the cornfields of the American Midwest to illuminate a potential path to sustainability, informed by the constraints imposed by life’s essential elements and the four-billion-year history of life on Earth.
It is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. Elemental reveals how microbes, plants, and people used the fundamental building blocks of life to alter the climate, and with it, the trajectory of life on Earth in the past, present, and future.
Taking readers from the deep geologic past to our current era of human dominance, Stephen Porder focuses on five of life’s essential elements―hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. He describes how single-celled cyanobacteria and plants harnessed them to wildly proliferate across the oceans and the land, only to eventually precipitate environmental catastrophes. He then brings us to the present, and shows how these elements underpin the success of human civilization, and how their mismanagement threatens similarly catastrophic unintended consequences. But, Porder argues, if we can learn from our world-changing predecessors, we can construct a more sustainable future.
Blending conversational storytelling with the latest science, Porder takes us deep into the Amazon, across fresh lava flows in Hawaii, and to the cornfields of the American Midwest to illuminate a potential path to sustainability, informed by the constraints imposed by life’s essential elements and the four-billion-year history of life on Earth.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published September 12, 2023
40 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Porder
2 books6 followersPorder is an associate professor in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and fellow in Brown’s Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 18, 2024
An interesting new way of looking at the world. Porder asks us to think of ourselves and our surroundings as made up of and dependent on essential elements. We cannot exist without oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous and we must try our best to maintain their levels in the environment.
These ideas will fit nicely into the story I want to tell in my book. One where we see the world as an interconnected swarm system. This takes my thinking a step further. We cannot limit our understanding to the organismal level, but on the elemental. I also liked the points about biogeochemistry because a big part of what I want to discuss focuses on the negative impacts of what I call siloization. Interestingly, he uses the word silo to discuss the negative impacts of separations between disciplines.
P.S. Who knew phosphorous was so important?? Hidden superstar if you ask me. That guy is everywhere behind the scenes.
These ideas will fit nicely into the story I want to tell in my book. One where we see the world as an interconnected swarm system. This takes my thinking a step further. We cannot limit our understanding to the organismal level, but on the elemental. I also liked the points about biogeochemistry because a big part of what I want to discuss focuses on the negative impacts of what I call siloization. Interestingly, he uses the word silo to discuss the negative impacts of separations between disciplines.
P.S. Who knew phosphorous was so important?? Hidden superstar if you ask me. That guy is everywhere behind the scenes.
November 7, 2023
Too preachy, a few interesting facts but mostly basics
Read
October 16, 2023In terms of popular science as a genre, I think this book hits its mark nicely. It's really easy to understand, and had a lot to offer. I already knew the general idea; if you take a look at "deep time" on the planet, so to speak, there were times when various changes in evolution resulted in massive impact to the structure of the planet, for example the amount of oxygen freed up in our atmosphere (hcnce the kinds of new creatures who can live in it), and so forth. Still, it was really nice to learn the specifics of it, not to mention to speculate on the kinds of landscapes/environments we will have in the future when changes come about again. Climate Change, of course, hangs around in the background (and explicitly, at times) of the entire discussion. I suppose one implicit argument here is against those who think that humans can't significantly affect the environment, since part of the whole point of the book is how organisms did in the past, and will in the future, radically and dramatically affect the environment.
I also loved a particular metaphor he employed about the potential "tipping point" of environmental changes, which is to imagine a ball that is bouncing around on a table. As you more violently and quickly bat the ball around, you get closer and closer to having it fall off the edge. Once it goes over the edge, it will drop to some other level, where again it will eventually assume some kind of routine pattern and state -- but a different one with entirely different conditions than what existed on the plane of the table, and at that point putting the ball back up where it was will no longer be an option.
I also loved a particular metaphor he employed about the potential "tipping point" of environmental changes, which is to imagine a ball that is bouncing around on a table. As you more violently and quickly bat the ball around, you get closer and closer to having it fall off the edge. Once it goes over the edge, it will drop to some other level, where again it will eventually assume some kind of routine pattern and state -- but a different one with entirely different conditions than what existed on the plane of the table, and at that point putting the ball back up where it was will no longer be an option.
November 9, 2025
4.5 rounded down to 4.
A very well crafted book about how certain organisms in the past have overcome constraints in elements which make up living organisms (C, N, P) and through that changed the world. The biggest changers of these elements today are humans, and the book goes into depth about how we have achieved that and what negative processes that has unleashed. In the end, the book goes into a dive into various solutions that researchers are working on to solve this. Quite informative!
A very well crafted book about how certain organisms in the past have overcome constraints in elements which make up living organisms (C, N, P) and through that changed the world. The biggest changers of these elements today are humans, and the book goes into depth about how we have achieved that and what negative processes that has unleashed. In the end, the book goes into a dive into various solutions that researchers are working on to solve this. Quite informative!
May 2, 2025
Read this last spring when I was eating up anything I could easily access on chemical history. This book was written by someone working in the scientific field of biogeochemistry, which in my view is honestly just an extension of early metabolic studies of the 19th century (like those of Liebig, Johnston, and their students). Stuff Marx was highly interested in. The author, Porder, defines biogeochemistry as simply a field of science "which focuses on how energy and atoms move between organisms and their environments." Literally how I define metabolism to be honest, but it's bordering on "social metabolism" (but not limiting itself to human organisms, or their social collectivities, but any organism). Metabolism is discussed a handful of times in this book, but not that extensively. Interestingly, the field of biogeochemistry was founded by a Soviet scientist named Vladimir Vernadsky who won the Stalin Prize in 1943. Anyone who studies materialism these days (new or old, straight or queer), might be interested in this stuff, especially if one is interested in literature that does not just take "materialism" or "metabolism" as givens, but more interested in historicizing these concepts, and understanding how they emerged as modes of chemical inquiry and analysis.
I personally am fascinated by ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and particularly the enzyme ATP synthase that manufactures these little molecular packets of energy that all living organisms depend upon, primarily because the enzyme functions in a manner often compared in popular science literature to watermill infrastructure. ATP is mentioned a couple of times, but not that extensively. But I think it was while reading this book that the importance of phosphorus really clicked for me, in relation to ATP. Porder writes:
"Cells power themselves by converting ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to ADP (adenosine diphosphate), and the P in ATP and ADP is phosphorus. Unlike car- bon and nitrogen, phosphorus isn’t all that abundant on Earth. It doesn’t exist in a stable gas phase, so it’s not in the air. It’s in such biological demand that its concentration in ocean, lake, and river water is typically very low, drawn down by the micro- organisms living in that water. And though it’s more abundant in rocks than in water, it’s still pretty scarce— less than a tenth of one percent of the average rock. For something that’s irreplaceable for all life, phosphorus is hard to come by. Before I dive into how humans gained access to the phosphorus we needed to change the world, I want to set the stage by exploring how the land plants dealt with the same challenge."
He also talks about the history of guano over-extraction and the emergence of phosphate mining:
"Sadly, we have largely ignored the guano lesson— that phos- phorus is finite. We exploited guano until it, and the birds that left it behind, were largely gone. Then we moved on to a new source— phosphate ore, concentrated in a few places over mil- lions of years by geologic happenstance. Commercial mining of Moroccan deposits (the world’s largest) began in 1922 but didn’t really ramp up until after World War II. In the postwar boom, the growing need for food led to a fourteen- fold increase in phosphate mining between 1945 and 1980. The United States and Soviet Union led the way, but their combined reserves are tiny compared with those in West Africa. That long con vey or belt across the desert is part of a massive phosphorus delivery infrastructure that keeps us all from starving, one that will increasingly depend on West Africa as other deposits dwindle. Countries that don’t have oil, gas, or coal, and even those that do, can invest in renewables and wean themselves off these finite deposits of stored energy. But there is no way to wean ourselves off phosphorus, and so the concentration of high-grade ore in just a few countries opens up some interesting questions about the future of the food supply and the power to control it. Long before the world runs out of high- grade ore deposits, the geopolitical implications of the distribution of phosphate ore will likely be something to be reckoned with."
In Canada, phosphate mining has typically occurred through the extraction of apatite. If you go to the rock section at the ROM (sponsored by a bunch of evil mining corporations like Barrick) there are quite a number of apatite samples on display. They all look different from each other and very interesting. The etymology of apatite, comes from the Greek word ἀπατάω (apatáō), which means to deceive. If you're a post-secondary student with school ID, including if you're a grad student, you can get into the ROM for free every Tuesday.
Anyway this was a fascinating book. Beyond phosphorus, Porder goes into a deep dive into four other elements: hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), because: "They make up what I’ll call “Life’s Formula”: HOCNP. All organisms great and small engage in a relentless search for these elemental ingredients, gathering them from the environment to build their bodies." If you're into metabolism, you'll love this.
I personally am fascinated by ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and particularly the enzyme ATP synthase that manufactures these little molecular packets of energy that all living organisms depend upon, primarily because the enzyme functions in a manner often compared in popular science literature to watermill infrastructure. ATP is mentioned a couple of times, but not that extensively. But I think it was while reading this book that the importance of phosphorus really clicked for me, in relation to ATP. Porder writes:
"Cells power themselves by converting ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to ADP (adenosine diphosphate), and the P in ATP and ADP is phosphorus. Unlike car- bon and nitrogen, phosphorus isn’t all that abundant on Earth. It doesn’t exist in a stable gas phase, so it’s not in the air. It’s in such biological demand that its concentration in ocean, lake, and river water is typically very low, drawn down by the micro- organisms living in that water. And though it’s more abundant in rocks than in water, it’s still pretty scarce— less than a tenth of one percent of the average rock. For something that’s irreplaceable for all life, phosphorus is hard to come by. Before I dive into how humans gained access to the phosphorus we needed to change the world, I want to set the stage by exploring how the land plants dealt with the same challenge."
He also talks about the history of guano over-extraction and the emergence of phosphate mining:
"Sadly, we have largely ignored the guano lesson— that phos- phorus is finite. We exploited guano until it, and the birds that left it behind, were largely gone. Then we moved on to a new source— phosphate ore, concentrated in a few places over mil- lions of years by geologic happenstance. Commercial mining of Moroccan deposits (the world’s largest) began in 1922 but didn’t really ramp up until after World War II. In the postwar boom, the growing need for food led to a fourteen- fold increase in phosphate mining between 1945 and 1980. The United States and Soviet Union led the way, but their combined reserves are tiny compared with those in West Africa. That long con vey or belt across the desert is part of a massive phosphorus delivery infrastructure that keeps us all from starving, one that will increasingly depend on West Africa as other deposits dwindle. Countries that don’t have oil, gas, or coal, and even those that do, can invest in renewables and wean themselves off these finite deposits of stored energy. But there is no way to wean ourselves off phosphorus, and so the concentration of high-grade ore in just a few countries opens up some interesting questions about the future of the food supply and the power to control it. Long before the world runs out of high- grade ore deposits, the geopolitical implications of the distribution of phosphate ore will likely be something to be reckoned with."
In Canada, phosphate mining has typically occurred through the extraction of apatite. If you go to the rock section at the ROM (sponsored by a bunch of evil mining corporations like Barrick) there are quite a number of apatite samples on display. They all look different from each other and very interesting. The etymology of apatite, comes from the Greek word ἀπατάω (apatáō), which means to deceive. If you're a post-secondary student with school ID, including if you're a grad student, you can get into the ROM for free every Tuesday.
Anyway this was a fascinating book. Beyond phosphorus, Porder goes into a deep dive into four other elements: hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), because: "They make up what I’ll call “Life’s Formula”: HOCNP. All organisms great and small engage in a relentless search for these elemental ingredients, gathering them from the environment to build their bodies." If you're into metabolism, you'll love this.
November 25, 2023
I expected to chemistry book and got more of a environmental science book. It is one of the more hopeful environmental science books about how we can overcome the human created issues of scarcity and climate change. I do think a little too much emphasis is put on how individuals need to change what they do in their homes, rather than governments and institutions changing what they do. I will add that after having read another book earlier this year, that running out of phosphorus/phosphates is a big environmental and agricultural problem that hasn't received enough attention. I also loved his way of describing the fossil fuel / renewable energy issue, "we don't want carbon, we want energy." Yes it does matter where we get it from and at what cost, but it reframes the discussion to focus on the need for energy rather than how it is traditionally framed as a two sides debate. Reminds me a lot of how "Revenge of the Electric Car" pivoted away from the electric versus fossil fuel car debate and instead reframed in terms of energy dependence on oil producing countries and on air quality. You don't really have to agree on solutions, we do need to start by agreeing that there is a problem. Too often the debate is about whether there is a problem and so we never get around to how to fix it.
December 10, 2023
Very thought-provoking description of how ancient cyanobacteria, followed by plants, and now humans have changed the earth through changes to the atmosphere. Porder provides very approachable and easily understandable descriptions of the state of climate science along with predictions for the future. He also provides some simple recommendations to reduce individual and group impacts.
October 27, 2023
Just finished reading "Elemental - How Five Elements Changed Earth's Past And Will Shape Our Future" by Stephen Porder, published by Princeton Press.
"Elemental" starts out as a really great science book, but sadly it starts faltering not even halfway through the book when Porder decides to shift the focus on how elements shift and impact life and the surrounding environment to a lecture on how he did his part to lessen his environmental carbon footprint - okay, notable but half a book to pat your self on the back on how noble you are for weather proofing and upgrading your house? Ummmm, dude, hardcover copies of your book have probably done more to undo all that "reduction" of your carbon footprint then you've done in trying to save the planet. For someone who claims in print that he sees the big picture, he's astonishingly blind.
Not Recommended!
Zero Stars!
Returned!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069...
"Elemental" starts out as a really great science book, but sadly it starts faltering not even halfway through the book when Porder decides to shift the focus on how elements shift and impact life and the surrounding environment to a lecture on how he did his part to lessen his environmental carbon footprint - okay, notable but half a book to pat your self on the back on how noble you are for weather proofing and upgrading your house? Ummmm, dude, hardcover copies of your book have probably done more to undo all that "reduction" of your carbon footprint then you've done in trying to save the planet. For someone who claims in print that he sees the big picture, he's astonishingly blind.
Not Recommended!
Zero Stars!
Returned!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069...
December 11, 2023
The book is a popular science write up about the five elements H(ydrogen), O(xygen), C(arbon), N(itrogen) and P(hosphorus). The author picked these based on the importance of such key atoms in cells of living things. The approximated distribution of the elements in a Cyanobacteria cell is H263 O110 C106 N16 P1 ... ratio of 263:110:106:16:1 for the five elements. For Humans, Ca(lcium) is the element added to the formula H375 O132 C88 N6 Ca1 P1
For each of the five elements, the author covered the sources (natural or manufactured); abundance; cycle & recycling; fixation (of nitrogen, carbon); effects on nature, climate and environment.
Throughout the content, related topics like photosynthesis; greenhouse gas; deforestation; agriculture; food production etc are embedded for information in background and explanation.
My take away from the reading is I have learned quite a bit of knowledge on the importance of these five elements from the coverage in the book.
For each of the five elements, the author covered the sources (natural or manufactured); abundance; cycle & recycling; fixation (of nitrogen, carbon); effects on nature, climate and environment.
Throughout the content, related topics like photosynthesis; greenhouse gas; deforestation; agriculture; food production etc are embedded for information in background and explanation.
My take away from the reading is I have learned quite a bit of knowledge on the importance of these five elements from the coverage in the book.
December 18, 2023
The first chapters were very specific about the individual elements, and the progression of cyano bacteria to a proliferation of plants is what oxygenated our planet. As humans we consume H2O and hydrogen provided by abundant sunshine, and we excrete carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous, which nature absorbs and returns oxygen,carbon, and phosphorous using plants and the ocean as a conduit in a never ending cycle. The writer says we should imagine fish tanks with these six elements, but the excess of carbon is overflowing its tank. The end of the book presents an idealistic world where people change their ways and live in harmony with nature. Let's hope the scientists have the magic bullet before 2100. If the temperature rises by 7 degrees as it did due to volcanic eruptions in the past, most major cities will be islands surrounded by salty water without access to arable land.
March 2, 2024
Very much basic and wide chemistry and biochemistry lesson. Way too preachy and too many assumptions to credit more than 3 stars for the read on a whole.
This would be a good read for those who have little element education. Or have no Earth or solar system past ptogressions.
His optimism is NOT under valued nor dissed by this star value reaction. But his ways and means are. Humans think. They will not be able to depart from cultural or social mores. Not will they all become city dwellers or do groupthink that well. Other means may evolve.
But more importantly he makes human centric assumptions that are just as off in apples to apples as my first forensic evolution class was back in the middle of the last century.
Environmental science right now is focusing only on a small portion of the entire balance prototype for Earth.
This would be a good read for those who have little element education. Or have no Earth or solar system past ptogressions.
His optimism is NOT under valued nor dissed by this star value reaction. But his ways and means are. Humans think. They will not be able to depart from cultural or social mores. Not will they all become city dwellers or do groupthink that well. Other means may evolve.
But more importantly he makes human centric assumptions that are just as off in apples to apples as my first forensic evolution class was back in the middle of the last century.
Environmental science right now is focusing only on a small portion of the entire balance prototype for Earth.
May 4, 2025
Accessible science of soils needed to grow crops and the implications of the elements (carbon, nitrogen, etc) during climate change. Even if you've never had a chemistry class, the presentation is understandable and if you have, it's not too simple to reveal some new details on the limitations of growing crops in different areas and the impact this will have on global food supply over time.
I used the audiobook & that was a good experience.
I used the audiobook & that was a good experience.
January 16, 2024
reminds me of an entry level bio book, it doesn’t overwhelmed you with words and does a great job connecting to the readers every day life and the implications of earths 5 key elements - from its impact before humans existed to how humans contribute. There weren’t any huge revelations or pieces of knowledge I didn’t already have an understanding of, but still learned some stuff!
June 4, 2024
I have to be honest and admit I only read the first half of this book. It is well written and the very knowledgeable author has blended conversational storytelling with the latest science. I simply didn't have enough time to finish it in time to return in to the local library, so I'll check it out later and finish it later & revisit this review.
January 2, 2024
chemistry is cool and plants with their "engineering" are amazing. The discussion about how humans use these elements is important. neat history about when our atmosphere gained oxygen and how that changed so many things.
January 18, 2024
This book is accessible for non-scientists who are interested in the climate crisis and it’s also optimistic (perhaps more than it deserves to be). While I still have plenty of climate anxiety, I appreciate Dr. Porder’s practical approach to changing carbon emissions and farming.
May 17, 2024
A starter book. Someone interested can read this book and have have ideas on new topics to research. However, it is tough to know how a bigger will find this book, unless they already have much of the baseline knowledge that this book provides.
December 19, 2024
Interesting take from a Princeton professor, but when he started talking about not eating meat, my rating went down. I guess this is what you get when you live in cow country / middle America. But good thoughts on sustainability to help combat climate change.
September 15, 2023
It's an amazing book with such impact and actionable stuff for all of us!
February 23, 2024
Pretty standard but a good conclusion (focused on action inspired by the info) brings this up to a 3,5, rounded up because so few people have read & reviewed.
March 16, 2024
kind of depressing but honestly that is the reality. it was kind of repetitive but it was good to know info
August 24, 2024
This was a very good read. Learned a lot about the Earth's past and current situation. Highly recommend.
November 6, 2024
This was an enjoyable book about the development of five elements and their impact on today. The author's personal journey was nicely highlighted.
July 1, 2025
this was just slow and dense. which it's nonfic i totally get it but like. it's the kind of nonfiction that's targeted towards an audience that is relatively low-knowledge on the topic
February 26, 2024
I am indebted to Professor Porder for connecting the dots of the environmental and biological realities that commonly affect every living organism on the planet. I am embarrassed to admit that “sustainability,” “global warming,” etc., were words on a superficial level of my mind, occasionally spoken but mostly undisturbed. A few reviewers have looked down their noses at the “elemental” level of Porder’s scientific presentation. Be that as it may, there are vast numbers of us out here who need the professor’s accessible, sustainable wake-up call. I count “Elemental” as my best read in years!
December 18, 2024
The concept is interesting, and the book starts strong. Regrettably, mid-way though it devolves into an overly long TED talk. You have heard much of this before.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews