After the opening scene - setting chapters, the reader is well rewarded with many nuggets: the story
of his tramps around France mapping its geology; his fortitude in redistil - ling pure water for 101 days to prove that it would not
turn into «earth» (he later proved that it consisted
of hydrogen and oxygen); his marriage; his tests for tobacco adulteration; his brush with death at the gunpowder factory; his examination
of mesmerism; his tragic final
years; and,
of course, his main discoveries and contributions, including his
exchanges with the English scientist Joseph Priestley.
In just a taste
of what's to come:
After a two -
year battle with the IRS, Coinbase, one
of the largest cryptocurrency
exchanges, recently
turned over information about 13,000 customers who had traded more than $ 20,000 worth over a two -
year period.