The Soul of Fire - Now reprinted in soft cover with a newly designed cover. This classic text tells you everything you need to know about charcoal and more. The subtitle is "How Charcoal Changed the World" and that it did. Read story after fascinating story about how the simple item charcoal has influenced our lives. This book is a classic favorite for most pyros.

CONTENTS:

Foreword

Acknowledgements

I Black Magic
The Surprise of Charcoal
The Fiery Gift: Mythological and Practical Aspects
Enter Charcoal: Some educated guesses on the discovery of charcoal
Serendipity and etymology: Advantages over other fuels
Warming Ways: From braziers to hypocausts
Charcoal Eternal: A link with Earth's beginnings; marking a boundary, dating an excavation, conducting electricity

II A Scientific Matter
The Glamorous Sister: The yin and yang of charcoal. The link between diamonds and charcoal
The Burning Subject: Of atoms and alchemy
The Vital Element: Carbon, the keystone of organic chemistry
Millennial Clocks: Isotopes to date history

III Fire Breaks Stone: The Development of Metals
Out of the Stone Age: Charcoal, the single most important fuel in the ancient world. Clues to the past in Egyptian tomb paints
The Pots That Turned to Metal: The series of discoveries that led to the Bronze and Iron Ages
Of Smelting, Melting, and Mines
The Clang of Bronze: The first money, the first coins
The Golden Age: The Americas before and after the Spanish conquistadors. The lost-wax process
Heaven's Metal: Iron, the new secret weapon

IV The Secret Ingredient
Louder Than Thunder: The formula for gunpowder-its discovery in China and rediscovery in Europe. The alchemists and Roger Bacon's secret code for charcoal
Keep Your Powder Dry: How gunpowder exploded feudal structures and led to democracy
Guns for the Gunpowder: Changing scenes of battle. The catalyst for modern warfare becomes it best defense
The Earth Moves: The use of black powder in peacetime
The Sky's the Limit: Some notable fireworks
Of Stars and Salutes: Behind the scenes of pyrotechnics

V The Charcoal Age
The Growing Demand: Iron – charcoal's biggest customer. Cast iron, wrought iron, and steel
The Power of the Blast Furnace: By Hook or by Crook. The first energy crisis
The Other Side of the Forest: Why England really valued the American colonies. The solution becomes a problem. Ironworkers, paid and unpaid
The Battle of the Century: Coal versus charcoal
End of an Industry

VI The Devil's People
The Forgotten Man: Charcoal burners – important, admired, and scorned
Carbonari, Pineys, Raggies, and More: A variety of life styles, including that of English colliers, Italian carbonari; the Nevada charcoal war
The Oldest Profession: How to make charcoal
Dozing and Disaster: The perils of the trade
The Ready Money Crop: Different wood, different charcoal, different dwellings
Burning into the Present

VII An adsorbing Subject
Super Cells: The connection between charcoal's incredible porosity and medical and environmental miracles
Adsorption vs. Absorption
A Versatile Antidote: Why charcoal is recommended for every medicine cabinet
Rx: From Bad Breath to Cancer
Charcoal-Filtered Chickens, cows, cigarettes, whisky, and gas masks
Earth Medicine
Toward Pure Air and Water: On land, undersea, in space

VIII Chemicals, Cars, and Cooks
Valuable Smoke: By-products of charcoal production spur the growth of a giant industry
Furnace on Wheels: Charcoal-powered cars, army trucks, and an emperor's limousine
Charcoal Bound: Briquets and the ubiquitous barbecue
The Cooking Connection

IX The Paradox of Charcoal
The Dark Side. Charcoal's dual character and its impace on the environment. Deforestation and desertification
The Bright Side: Art treasures of prehistory, renaissance, and modern times
Charcoal from A to Zen: Incense, Japan's white charcoal, make-up and other miscellaneous uses

Appendix 1 Melting Points of Metals and Related Temperatures

Appendix 2 Chronology of Metals and Man

Appendix 3 Glossary of Metal Terms

Appendix 4 Chemicals and Drugs Adsorbed by Activated Charcoal

Bibliography

Index