{"product_id":"9781472911438","title":"Chilled : How Refrigeration Changed the World and Might Do So Again","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eChilled\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Tom Jackson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe refrigerator may seem mundane nowadays, but it is one of the wonders of twentieth-century science--lifesaver, food preserver, social liberator. Part historical narrative, part scientific decoder, \u003ci\u003eChilled\u003c\/i\u003e looks at early efforts to harness the cold at the ice pits of Persia (Iranians still call their fridges the \"ice pit\") and ice harvests on the Regents Canal. As people learned more about what cold actually \u003ci\u003ewas\u003c\/i\u003e, scientists invented machines for producing it on demand. The discovery of refrigeration and its applications features a cast of characters that includes the Ice King of Boston, Galileo, Francis Bacon, an expert on gnomes, a magician who chilled a cathedral, a Renaissance duke addicted to iced eggnog, and a Bavarian nobleman from New England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRefrigeration technology has been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last one hundred years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson. Refrigeration is needed to make soap, store penicillin, and without it, in vitro fertilization would be impossible. And the fridge will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes as teleporters and intelligent-computer brains turn our science-fiction vision of the future into fact.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“There's much to wonder at in Jackson's captivating book.” —starred review, \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Packs an amazing amount of information into this fascinating history of humanity's ongoing quest for refrigeration.” —starred review, \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Jackson's spirited explanations of centuries-old scientific experiments relating to the\u003cbr\u003etransmutation of gases into water, finding absolute zero, and identifying chemical elements--to name a few--will be most appreciated by readers with a strong interest in the physical sciences.” —\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Jackson's chronicle of cool will give you new appreciation for the (relatively) recent and now indispensable invention.” —\u003ci\u003eDiscover Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An entertaining romp through the history of refrigeration.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tom Jackson’s highly entertaining book \u003ci\u003eChilled \u003c\/i\u003e. . . balances clear descriptions of scientific principles and breakthroughs with amusing (and sometimes sobering) anecdotes about the history of artificial cold.” —\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“To understand why electric cool is so important--which is the premise of Jackson’s new book--it helps to remember a world without it, when people relied on ice cut from ponds and rivers to preserve their food and chill their drinks. This method, while popular, was also risky (stream ice often contained pollutants, which led to outbreaks of typhoid fever and more).” —\u003ci\u003eTIME Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781472911438\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Bloomsbury Sigma","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40595439190222,"sku":"9781472911438","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781472911438","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}