Invention of Air

The Invention of Air is ostensibly a biography of Joseph Priestley. However, the principle argument is that surplus energy provides the impetus for scientific revolution. Thus, England was the source of the recent boom industrial and scientific revolution due to the plentiful and easily accessible coal measures. Priestly was fortunate to live in this time, and thus had sufficient free time to devote to some of his experiments.
The author argues that his discovery that plants produce "air" that animals need to survive is his greater (but overlooked) discovery. (His discovery of oxygen is overshadowed by his willingness to lock on to a debunked "flojisten" theory.)
At the outset, the author argues that Priestley is one of the most important figures in the early American history - pointing out that in letters, he is referenced many more times than others like Ben Franklin. However, he does a poor job of proving that argument.
Instead, he spends more time rambling on about how innovation happens, with a lot of attention paid to Thomas Kuhn's, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". It does make for some interesting reading. But, alas diverges from the central focus.