We Are the Weather

The author discusses the world’s first suicide note, which he read in The Book of Endings. This note, Foer says, was written in Ancient Egypt some 4,000 years ago. The suicide note takes the form of a person trying to convince his soul to allow him to die by suicide. There are other stories in The Book of Endings, including the death of Julius Caesar and Houdini. The author also learns that we inhale the molecules that are emitted by a person’s last breath, so to him that means he has inhaled Caesar’s last breath, Houdini’s last breath, and even the final breath of a carrier pigeon. The author also mentions his grandmother for the first time, who is a key figure in the book. The chapter ends when the author discovers there was never a book titled The Book of Endings. It was a different book called Panati’s Extraordinary Book of Practically Everything and Everybody.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans gathered around their radios and listened as President Roosevelt explained the challenges that all Americans would face at the start of World War II. People would be taxed 90% of their income and endure food rations. Those on the coasts, where German planes might fly, would be asked to conform to blackouts, but even those in the Midwest participated in turning out their lights after dark.