i got somewhat addicted to this book. I LOVE WHAT I DO IN LIFE (software engineer). but sometimes when it seems a little bit of routine breaking in i need some encouragement. and in this levi's work i find bundles of it. he loves his work, and he infects me with his love for work. work as a purpose in life. no shame in that.

Told by an Italian chemist before, during, and after World War II, each chapter of this remarkable tale bears the title of the name of an element from the periodic table of chemistry. And each chapter also explores a memory that relates in some way to that element. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1061742.ht...

A very neat and thought-provoking series of autobiographical sketches (plus a couple of short fiction pieces), each based around one particular chemical element. Levi uses the metaphor to explore several aspects of his own life: growing up Jewish in Fascist Italy, being an industrial chemist, surviving Auschwitz. Fascinating and absorbing. ( )

The elements of Levi's stories are hardly the dignified and stodgy entities we know from chemistry class. They are more like temperamental children, exploding if mishandled or unexpectedly congealing into sulky solids if the presence of the merest whiff of impurity. In some of the stories, Levi is a detective searching for a contaminant which has spoiled a patch of paint or X-ray paper. In others, he is an alchemist intent on extracting riches from a pile of debris. We learn of his struggle to complete his degree and find work in Fascist Italy in the face of laws discriminating against Jews. Only one story refers directly to his time in Auschwitz when he is forced to assist a German chemist who has closed his eyes to the mass murder around him. These stories have the imaginative power of Borges, but remain rooted in the material world of a scientist who is at once a petty bureaucrat, a wizard of the elements and a man who must cope with the political turmoil around him. ( )

A magnificent book.

I just re-read this while on the train back from New York with my wife. but On the very last page, I found the note "York & 60th, Hospital Building, 8th Floor." This was the address of my wife's (then my girlfriend's) lab in New York 13 years ago. Evidently I first read it on the bus down to New York to see her right after college. (7.3.07) ( )