What if the history of life on Earth was told not by a scientist, not by a philosopher, but by a single atom?

OXY is the biography of an oxygen atom — forged in the heart of a dying star, billions of years ago, hurled into the cosmos by a supernova and carried to a young, violent Earth on the ice of a comet. From that moment, OXY was present at everything that shaped life on this planet. Not as a bystander. As building material. As fuel. As witness.
He was there when the first oceans formed. He watched as cyanobacteria split water molecules and pumped free oxygen into the atmosphere for the first time. He flowed through the lungs of dinosaurs and through the bloodstream of the first upright primate. He fed the campfires that gave rise to language, culture and civilisation.
OXY has no ambition, no guilt and no pity. He is a witness. And his testimony spans four billion years.
What makes this book unique is its perspective. OXY is not a textbook and not a novel. It is both at once — a scientifically grounded journey through the history of the universe, told through the eyes of a single atom. Each chapter is a new era. Each page a new wonder.
From the violent birth of stars to the Great Oxygenation Event that transformed our atmosphere. From the first breath of a dinosaur to the trenches of the First World War. From the discovery of blood circulation to the first human breath on another world. OXY witnessed it all — silently, patiently, without judgment.

For readers who have ever wondered: Where do I truly come from? What connects me to the universe? How did life arise on Earth? — OXY is the answer. Not in formulas and equations, but in images, stories and wonder.
Blending scientific accuracy with poetic storytelling, Johan van den Eertwegh (Jeert) offers a unique reflection on the interconnectedness of the cosmos, our planet, and ourselves.
You are not simply breathing air. You are breathing three billion years of revolutions, biological triumphs and cosmic coincidences. You are breathing OXY.

This book is for the curious. For those who look up at the night sky and feel something they cannot name. For those who have sat beside a campfire and wondered how that fire connects them to the very first humans who ever lived. For those who have held their breath underwater and felt, for just a moment, how fragile and precious that next breath truly is.

OXY has been in every breath ever taken on this planet. He was in the lungs of the last dinosaur. He was breathed by Leonardo da Vinci as he painted the Sistine Chapel. He was present at the moment Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. And right now, as you read these words, he is flowing through your bloodstream.

That is not poetry. That is chemistry. That is physics. That is the story of everything — told by the one witness who was always there.
OXY has been published in five languages — Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish — bringing this cosmic story to readers across the world. Whether you are a science enthusiast, a lover of narrative nonfiction, or simply someone who looks at the world with curiosity and wonder, OXY will change the way you think about every breath you take.
Open this book. Take a deep breath. And let OXY tell you his story.

Told across 34 chapters spanning 14 billion years, from the Big Bang to the present day, OXY is the book that will make you look at the air around you — and see the universe.
The greatest biography ever told is hidden in the air you breathe.