About this item

It's July and it's 94 degrees Fahrenheit. What do you do? Blast the air conditioning. It's a modern miracle of convenience and cooling. How did it happen? Sal Basile's narrative history traces the origins one of the machines we take for granted.It's a contraption that makes the lists of "Greatest Inventions Ever"; at the same time, it's accused of causing global disaster. It has changed everything from architecture to people's food habits to their voting patterns, to even the way big business washes its windows. It has saved countless lives . . . while causing countless deaths. Most of us are glad it's there. But we don't know how, or when, it got there.It's air conditioning.For thousands of years, humankind attempted to do something about the slow torture of hot weather.



About the Author

Salvatore Basile

(Visit at www.salvatorebasile.com)
Salvatore Basile has worn many hats--as an actor, dog walker, furniture refinisher, opera singer, produce trimmer, magazine columnist, decorative painter, and (for exactly one night) private cook. Now he writes.
A native of Syracuse, he came to New York as a refugee from the Boston Conservatory and tried the theater, landing in the original company of the Off-Broadway musical "Hijinks." A season with a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe led to a singing career and performances of over 90 opera and concert roles, including three world premieres. In between, he entered the writing field with a three-year stint for Classical Singer magazine, penning the column "Things I Promised Not to Tell."
A call from St. Patrick's Cathedral for a last-minute replacement led to his singing a single concert. That led to a full-time position with the Cathedral Choir and its cantorial staff. That led to an appointment as the Cathedral's first Music Historian. And THAT led to "Fifth Avenue Famous," his first book.
Now, in a complete non sequitur, he follows up with "COOL: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything."



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