White Light
By Jack Lohmann

White Lightand is a conscience-driven tour de force.' Pico IyerThe most important element you never think about - uncover the secret life of phosphorusPhosphorus is the keystone of life. Withoutand it, cells cannot divide and plants cannotand photosynthesise. Highly reactive, it isand seldom found in its elemental form - but,and when pure white phosphorus is exposedand to air, it emits a ghostly white light.In 1842, Darwin's beloved botany professor, Reverend John Stevens Henslow, discovered the miraculous potential of phosphorus as a fertilizer. He hardly imagined that his countrymen would soon be grinding the bones of dead soldiers and mummified Egyptian cats to fertilise farms. Nor that his discovery would spawn a global mining industry, changing diets, lifestyle and the face of the planet forever.Journeying across the flat expanses of Henslow's Suffolk to far-flung Nauru, an island stripped of its life force by this ravenous young industry, Lohmann sifts through the Earth's geological layers and eras, exploring our strained relationship with a life-giving element. Bold, lyrical, genre-defying,and White Lightand invites us to renew our broken relationship not just with the earth but with our own death - and the life it brings after us.***'An effervescent - or I should say phosphorescent - debut from a talented young science writer.'and Steve Brusatte, bestselling author ofand The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs'An eerie exploration of a strange and surprising element, and a plangent warning of a looming environmental crisis that needs our attention. Science writing of the highest order.'and Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment'In this deft and radiant book, Jack Lohmann has achieved something quite rare: a work that is scientifically precise yet ethically expansive.'and Rob Nixon, author ofand Slow Violence