{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063036983?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0063036983","authors":["Peter Brannen"],"book_id":"9780063036987","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-story-of-co2-is-the-story-of-everything-9780063036987","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063036987.jpg?v=e9e3450dab11f520","description":"How carbon dioxide made planet Earth, shaped human history, and now holds our future in the balance Every year, we are dangerously warping the climate by putting gigantic amounts of carbon dioxide into the air. But CO2 isn’t merely the by-product of burning fossil fuels—it is also fundamental to how our planet works. All life is ultimately made from CO2, and it has kept Earth bizarrely habitable for hundreds of millions of years. In short, it is the most important substance on Earth. But how is it that CO2 is as essential to life on Earth as it is capable of destroying it? In The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything, award- winning science journalist Peter Brannen reveals how carbon dioxide’s movement through rocks, air, water, and life has kept our planet’s climate livable, its air breathable, and its oceans hospitable to complex life. Starting at the dawn of life almost 4 billion years ago, and working all the way up through today’s global climate crisis and beyond, he illuminates how CO2 has been responsible for the planet’s many deaths and rebirths, for shaping the evolution of life, and for the development of modern human society. And he argues that it’s only by reckoning with this planetary-scale history that we can understand the cosmic stakes of our current moment on Earth—and how dangerous our experiment with the climate really is. Drawing on groundbreaking research and with a clear- eyed perspective, Brannen shows how a deep exploration of the carbon cycle can shed light on the way forward for humanity as we try to avert environmental catastrophe in the future. And it all begins with a richer understanding of the critical role of CO2 in our world.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780063036987","publication_date":"20250826","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"the-story-of-co2-is-the-story-of-everything","subtitle":"How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World","title":"The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"SCI013080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Environmental Chemistry","score":0.7419,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN050080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Conservation & Environment for Teens","score":0.738,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN050090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Ecosystems & Environmental Science for Teens","score":0.7325,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"SCI013080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Environmental Chemistry","score":0.7419,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN050080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Conservation & Environment for Teens","score":0.738,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN050090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Ecosystems & Environmental Science for Teens","score":0.7325,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"NAT010000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Ecology","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"NAT011000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Conservation","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"NAT023000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Natural Disasters","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI013080","confidence_band":"high","label":"Environmental Chemistry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI026000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Environmental Science","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI027000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Evolution","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI034000","confidence_band":"high","label":"History of Science","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI042000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Meteorology & Climatology","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Environmental Chemistry","score":0.7419,"slug":"environmental-chemistry"},{"label":"Conservation & Environment for Teens","score":0.738,"slug":"conservation-environment-for-teens"},{"label":"Ecosystems & Environmental Science for Teens","score":0.7325,"slug":"ecosystems-environmental-science-for-teens"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in the carbon cycle and Earth's climate history","Readers exploring how climate change relates to human history"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Hope Jahren"],"book_id":"9780593381151","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593381151.jpg?v=4f606d504e14cfed","score":0.715,"title":"The Story of More (adapted for Young Adults)","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593381151"},{"authors":["Peter Godfrey-Smith"],"book_id":"9781250397539","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250397539.jpg?v=3826b5559b036b38","score":0.7121,"title":"Living on Earth","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250397539"},{"authors":["Philippe Schuler"],"book_id":"9781636986739","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781636986739.jpg?v=2b64621c49a4f1a5","score":0.6913,"title":"The Wise Man & the Story of Plenty","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781636986739"},{"authors":["Bill Bryson"],"book_id":"9780767908184","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780767908184.jpg?v=3bf36bb93a000489","score":0.6767,"title":"A Short History of Nearly Everything","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780767908184"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:science"],"label":"Science","score":0.1776,"slug":"science"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:science gifts for adults"],"label":"Adults","score":0.1173,"slug":"adults"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:nature"],"label":"Nature","score":0.0486,"slug":"nature"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:psychology"],"label":"Psychology","score":0.0328,"slug":"psychology"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Carbon cycle, Earth's climate history, Climate change and human society.","Themes: Science, Adults, Nature.","Reading lane: Environmental Chemistry and Conservation & Environment for Teens."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in the carbon cycle and Earth's climate history","Readers exploring how climate change relates to human history"],"themes":["Carbon cycle","Earth's climate history","Climate change and human society"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":195,"goodreads_reviews_count":60,"quality_score":0.8879}}