The elements do not belong in a laboratory; they are the property of us all. Periodic Tales is a record of the journey with the elements that I never encouraged to take when I was a chemist,” writes Aldersey-Williams in the introduction. With this start, the author presents an unorthodox and invigorating look at the elements in our cultural history and in many areas of everyday life. Aldersey-Williams takes the reader on a personal and emotional journey through the world of several elements along with their discoverers and discovery location.

Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements - Goodreads Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements - Goodreads

Everything is made of them, from the most distant stars to the phosphors in the screen you’re looking at now, including you. The elements are the ultimate ingredients, and Periodic Tales tells their life story. For the UK edition:“[F]ascinating and beautiful. . . . If only chemistry had been like this at school. . . . [A] rich compilation of delicious tales.”— Matt Ridley, Prospect magazine I was born in London in 1959, the same year C.P. Snow gave his infamous ‘two cultures’ lecture about the apparently eternal divide in Britain between the arts and sciences. Perhaps this is where it all begins. Forced to choose one or the other at school and university, I chose the latter, gaining an MA in natural sciences from Cambridge. If you buy a standard ‘30C’ dose of any homepathic treatment, it means the active ingredient has been diluted thirty times, by a factor of 100. That might not sound like too much, until you realise that your chance of getting even one molecule of the original substance in your pill is one in a billion billion billion billion. In his influential book Bad Science, Skeptic superstar Dr Ben Goldacre explained that you would have to drink a sphere of water that stretches from the earth to the sun just to get one solitary, pointless molecule of it. (p. 129)

Ready to take the small-scale approach into your chemistry classroom? You might want to read this comprehensive guide first Also interesting were the seemingly universal reactions to certain elements - disgust at the “yellow vomit of light” in sodium (mostly in street lamps), respect for the “purity” of silver, awe at the “immortality” of gold, and so on. I also liked the historical examples of thallium and arsenic securing their place in the world as dangerous poisons used by stealthy murderers. By far the most interesting aspect of this work is Aldersey-Williams’s attention to how we, as human beings, attach meaning to the elements, which are objective and uncaring about such signifiers. The book’s central idea is to show how these meanings are often just as much a reflection of ourselves as they are about the physical properties of the elements themselves. Within the elements, we find ourselves, as we anthropomorphize them and witness how they evolve alongside us and our needs within a particular era. Having an American mother and an English father makes me, as it says on jars of honey, ‘the produce of more than one country’, and has left me with a curiosity about matters of national identity. Living in the United States gave me the opportunity to write my first book, using my semi-detachment from the culture to identify a renaissance in contemporary American design. Its success led to a larger-scale examination of design and national cultures as well as a number other design books and a five-year stint as design critic of the New Statesman. Periodic Tales– A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams presents an introduction to the elements of the periodic table, their properties, their history, and the stories that surround them.

Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements

Wollaston was a precise and self-controlled man. He could write on glass with a diamond with the script being so small that Joseph Priestley: A man of intellectual curiosity who was inspired by Benjamin Franklin to take up experimental science. He later turned his attention to the constant bubbling of the 'fixed air' which emanated from the beer mash next door. Science writing at its best ... fascinating and beautiful ... if only chemistry had been like this at school ... to meander through the periodic table with him ... is like going round a zoo with Gerald Durrell ... a rich compilation of delicious tales, but it offers greater rewards, too Matt Ridley Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-alpha-20201231-10-g1236 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9866 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000287 Openlibrary_edition The idea is definitely interesting - Mendeleev's periodic table classifies elements based on their physical and chemical properties. Whilst this may suffice for more technical use, these elements interact and are construed in our common life very differently. And thus, is there any merit in studying elements together that have similar values (E.g. clubbing "value" metals such as gold, silver, platinum etc. together). The brilliance of the book, however, lies in the author's ability to showcase our anthropomorphism with these elements. For instance, iron for strength, Arsenic as an adjective for anything poisonous, platinum for anything rare and precious (think platinum jubilee, platinum membership etc.) and so on. The author talks about how these elements have evolved with the society and our needs (e.g. Aluminium was considered a precious and power metal based on Napolean's use of it, but with time has lowered in perceived value). Delving into these elements also allows the author to explore interesting correlations around the time and geography of these elements being discovered. All in all, the author does a good job of bringing to life these fundamental and ubiquitous, yet often ignored elements.Elemental phosphorous glows in the dark- the light coming from the combustion of short-lived oxides which are created at its

Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams - Eyrie Review: Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams - Eyrie

Unfortunately, this book isn't one of those books that's like an emotional roller coaster ride. This book is somewhat monotone, but I felt amazed, confused, and bored while reading this. Of course, I had "Whoa, really?" moments when I read something very interesting, but I also had "Huh?" and "Zzz" moments because of the uninteresting facts or the complicated chemistry terms that I don't understand. Even though I had confused and bored moments, I enjoyed reading about a quarter to half of the book, but the rest gave me a headache like the after-effect of a sugar rush. Below are a selection of wider reading and ideas for you to advance your chemistry knowledge before embarking on A level.Like the elements that Aldersey-Williams collected in his youth, this book is just that: a fun and accessible collection of stories about the periodic table and the elements that comprise it. I largely enjoyed reading Periodic Tales, but the disjointed nature of the content made it a bit difficult to read in large chunks, and I found my motivation to finish it dwindling as time progressed (although I’m entirely glad I did finish it since Aldersey-Williams’s excursions to the mines of Germany and Sweden offered some interesting avenues for my research and writing). The main message of the book is that we are one with the elements, literally (as in the makeup of objects we hold dear) as well as figuratively (as in humanity’s art, literature, language, history, geography, etc.). I believe the author does provide unique tidbits for each and every element on the table - mostly in regard to the year and location they were discovered, as well as the means of discovery and the scientist whose discovery they are attributed to. Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 13 March 2017.

Wider Reading List (Optional) — Wilmslow High School Wider Reading List (Optional) — Wilmslow High School

Although the book is roughly organized by cultural categories, the book still seems a little disconnected throughout. Some of the connections to themes such as “power” and “beauty” are a bit tenuous at times, lending to a rather haphazard structure. Since Aldersey-Williams forgoes organizing the book chronologically, the stories jump around greatly in time and location, making any kind of narrative thread pretty difficult to untangle. The book reads like a series of short stories/nifty trivia facts than a cohesive whole. It’s a book of little anecdotes rather than a coherent narrative, and some are well-rounded and focused while others meander and then suddenly end with little warning. That the author is way into his topic is proved by the line "...we should all have a little piece of spent uranium to keep in the garden as a momento of our reliance upon it for our energy." I'd rather opt for a gnome. Furthermore, the book is also primarily written for a Western audience, and the history of science that is told is almost entirely European/American centered. Again, due to the scope of the project, this is understandable. Yet, there’s not much new in terms of content. Aside from the introduction of the cultural perspective of the elements (which is not explored with any theoretical or critical depth), this book is not breaking any new ground. Rather, it is a textbook work of popular science, which retells history and scientific discoveries in an accessible and engaging way. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-05-10 08:00:35 Boxid IA40110407 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier A flashily brainy book, crammed with literary references and held together by a personal quest to collect as many elements as possible"Basically you have a scientists who not only knows what he is talking about but also how to present it in an accessible and fun manner he has also had experience on how to create displays and exhibits so he knows how to keep your attention.