Nick Mann

What a joy to read! The elements is truly “a visual exploration of every known element in the universe.” Author Theodore Gray (also a co-founder of Wolfram Research and its Mathematica), in a quirky and lively manner, discusses all the elements of the periodic table from #1 hydrogen to #118 ununoctium. (In my college days, lawrencium was the last element discovered. We’ve come a long way.) Stories range from the radioactive Eagle Scout to gray tin to vanadium tools. And the FBI’s show more confiscation of an element in the collection.

Gray and Nick Mann provided the photographs accompanying each element from Gray’s extensive element collection. Each element is pictured in pure form and items using the element are also pictured, from coins, jewelry and lead crystal to red fiestaware (containing uranium), light bulbs, common medicines like pepto-bismal and much more. Against a black background, the photos and layout were stunning. The paper was heavy coated paper which meant a book of considerable weight. Truly a coffee table book!

Gray also includes an explanation of the periodic table, orbitals with filling orders and other chemical properties than a non-chemist might want to skip. There is also a very short bibliography for further reading. If you want more information, Gray has a website with lots more photos and facts for students, teachers and professionals.

There was not a conventional periodic table as I remember it in the book, making it difficult for me to visualize where the element fit. It would have helped to have one in addition to the stylized table used throughout. I was also taken aback by his comment that when “oxygen combines with hydrogen and carbon, the result can be anything from water to …” Really! The comments about incandescent bulbs were also starting to wear thin after the 5th or 6th time. And the author is decidedly opinionated about other things so be prepared. However this in no way detracted from the book.

For someone who needs a more scholarly approach, there are many books on chemical elements and the periodic table. But for a light-hearted look at basic chemistry, this book is superb. show less

This book visits each of the 118 known elements in turn, offering up facts about them, their discoveries, and their applications (if any), as well as photographs of the element in its pure form, when possible, and of some of their compounds or bits of technology in which they're used. What truly amazed me about this book is that it's not just informative and pretty, but also surprisingly funny. I knew I was in for an entertaining treat from the first sentence, in which the author describes show more the periodic table as "the universal catalog of everything you can drop on your foot," and it did not disappoint. I even laughed out loud a number of times. That sense of humor really helped to keep things interesting, even when we were moving through endless ranks of nearly indistinguishable gray metals. Who knew chemistry could be so much fun? Not even me, and I'm a total science geek. show less

We've been reading this one, an element a day, since last spring's book fair. Each element of the periodic table has a two-page spread, with excellent photos (mostly of items that the author has collected) and an entertaining and informative blurb describing the history of the element and its uses. A lot of it likely went over Charlie's head, but he enjoyed it nonetheless and exposure to the Coolness of Science is essential, I think. I know *I* certainly enjoyed it; Gray is a hoot and we show more laughed out loud in some spots at his clever quips. show less

From Theodore Gray: "I started collecting elements in 2002 […and] by 2009, I had assembled nearly 2,300 objects representing every element, the possession of which is not forbidden by the laws of physics or the laws of man. […] Some elements can be experienced in large quantities, like the 135-pound iron ball I keep in my office for people to trip over. Others are best enjoyed in responsible moderation -- keep too much uranium in the office, and people start asking questions (keep over show more 15 pounds, and the Feds start asking questions)."

The Elements is a lush and visually stunning coffee-table book that showcases those samples and provides a terrific individual "biography" of each element.

Gray opens with an overview of the Periodic Table and its organization of elements into groups according to their similar characteristics. But then he explores them, element by element, in order of their atomic number rather than by group -- an effective method because the repeated returns to the various groups reinforce those group characteristics while familiarizing readers (YA and adult) with the individual elements.

Each biography is a two-page spread -- the left a full-page photo of one of those samples from Gray’s collection, and the right an array of text and pleasing images that detail the element’s history, uses, and technical specs (atomic weight; density; crystal structure; orbital electron arrangement; melting and boiling points; emission spectrum). Though it's a reference work, I read this book straight through -- often thinking, “okay, just one more” but then unable to resist that each element’s text ends with a teaser for the next one, and that Gray is liberal with trivia, personal experience, and wit. He dubs Tellurium the most melodic name and discusses the politics involved in naming new elements, finishing: “And so it is that we come to the end of our journey through the periodic table not with a bang, but with a committee.”

He’s the Bill Bryson of the Periodic Table! Highly recommended. show less