Science and Inquiry discussion

One of the books we will be reading for March 2024 is The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance by Dan Egan.

Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

I read this book in September and I really liked it. I got through it pretty fast and will probably thumb through it again if the conversation in this thread is robust. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am reading it now and it is very interesting! I like it.

Just got it at the library and I'm not far into it, but wow, that dumb kid who jumped into that canal to get away from the cops chasing him, and jumped into toxic water .... that hooked me in right away! Now gotta look up that video on You Tube....

Enjoyed it and learned a lot from it! I've posted my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

I finished it and it is very good. Well-written and informative. I knew nothing about the involvement of phosphorus in these issues regarding pollution before.

I may be in the minority, but I didn't really enjoy this one. To be fair, I wasn't originally going to choose this one from the two options, but my library loan on the other option was delayed. Then this one came in super early, hence my contribution also being super early.

I felt like this was more of a public history book focusing on fertilizer, with the occasional anecdote about phosphorus. It felt like there was a lot of filler, and that the analyses into each of the topics could have used a little more depth rather than meandering stories.

I also could shake the feeling that this really was a USA centric book, despite the title being aimed at "a world out of control" and the set-up chapters in part 1 having a decently global scope.

I just started this book. The author did not recommend himself to me in the "Note to Readers" where he explains he will not be using the correct forms for phosphorous (which should usually be a phosphate, since phosphorus does not occur by itself in nature) and algal blooms (which most people call algae blooms). No. His readers are too stupid to understand the differences. So he will be dumbing down his writing to appeal to the masses. I was very offended. And by something so simple. But I will continue reading.

I have just started this today as an audiobook. I appreciate that this book is so timely. I live close to the Great Lakes, which have been experiencing these algae blooms.

In the last year, or so, the Canadian government has been floating the idea of limiting fertilizers that farms can use because of these blooms. Like most things linked to the environment, there has been a great deal of pushback, both by farmers and lay people who have no idea how the two are linked.

I am looking forward to a deeper discussion of the problem.

I just finished this. I enjoyed it. Mildly. I can see why Jordan thought it was too USA centric but that didn't really bother me. However, I agree that it could have benefited from more depth. And the discussion of solutions was rather cursory. Here is my review.

I agree it could have gone into more detail, but I did enjoy it and found it very easy going, which is kind of a relief after some of the stuff I've been trying to grind through! A very important topic; I have been woefully ignorant as to the role of phosphorus in our environment, other than that "fertilizer runoff" is a big problem in our Florida waters. This book did round out my knowledge very much.

I wonder how much climate change impacts the frequency of the algal blooms. Does warmer water temperature encourage their development? I don't remember Egan mentioning anything about it.

Betsy wrote: "I wonder how much climate change impacts the frequency of the algal blooms. Does warmer water temperature encourage their development? I don't remember Egan mentioning anything about it."

I don't either, so I googled it and the overwhelming consensus seems to be yes, the warmer water certainly encourages the blooms.

It's a case of multiple things going wrong at the same time. In terms of ecological damage and species extinction it's double or triple whammies that attracts the Grim Reaper. For example:

The Great Lakes have warmed faster than nearby air temperatures, leading to longer warm seasons and prolonged stratification.

More total and intense precipitation is increasing runoff and combined sewer discharge, leading to greater nutrient loads in the lakes.

Speaking of the Great Lakes, the author of this book, Dan Egan, previously wrote a book called The Death and Life of the Great Lakes which I read last year and enjoyed. I believe algal blooms are discussed in that book, which is probably why he doesn't delve too much into the topic in this book.

Right. 'Death and Life' of the Great Lakes opened numerous doors for me including into realistic art by American Alexis Rockman, part of the New Gothic Art movement. One example is Forces of Change” (2017).

I have finished The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance. This is the kind of book I like. It defines a dilemma, gives us the history and science behind it. It gives examples in human terms. And some thoughts on what we might do about it, knowing that we don’t have the answers, yet.