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Genre/Form: | Miscellanea Trivia and miscellanea Tables Miscellanées |
---|---|
Document Type: | Book |
All Authors / Contributors: |
Sam Kean |
ISBN: | 9780316051644 0316051640 9780316051637 0316051632 9780552777506 0552777501 |
OCLC Number: | 456551224 |
Description: | vi, 391 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
Contents: | Orientation : column by column, row by row: Geography is destiny ; Near twins and black sheep : the genealogy of elements ; The Galápagos of the periodic table -- Making atoms, breaking Atoms: Where atoms come from : "We are all star stuff" ; Elements in time of war ; Completing the table with a bang ; Extending the table, expanding the Cold War -- Periodic confusion : the emergence of complexity: From physics to biology ; Poisoner's corridor : "ouch-ouch" ; Take two elements, call me in the morning ; How elements deceive -- The elements of human character: Political elements ; Elements as money ; Artistic elements ; An element of madness -- Element science today and tomorrow: Chemistry way, way below zero ; Spheres of splendor : the science of bubbles ; Tools of ridiculous precision ; Above (and beyond) the periodic table. |
Responsibility: | Sam Kean. |
More information: |
Abstract:
Reviews
Publisher Synopsis
'With a constant flow of fun facts bubbling to the surfaace, Kean writes with wit, flair and authority in a debut that will delight even general readers' - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
WorldCat User Reviews (1)
The disappearing spoon: and other true tales of madness, love, and ...
Review of The disappearing spoon: and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements. New York, Boston and London: Little, Brown and Company by Sam Kean, (2010)
Reviewer: W. P. Palmer.
The periodic table is one of the...
Read more...
Review of The disappearing spoon: and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements. New York, Boston and London: Little, Brown and Company by Sam Kean, (2010)
Reviewer: W. P. Palmer.
The periodic table is one of the major chemical concepts which is mentioned in virtually every chemical textbook so it is not entirely surprising that numerous books have been written featuring different aspects of the periodic table. A huge literature about the periodic table has thus developed: some of this literature deals with the lives and careers of chemists who were involved with evolution of the periodic table, some with the chemical relationships between the elements, or the chemistry of individual elements and some that relate to social and political issues connected with the elements. Sam Kean's work is very broad and includes most of these connections.
Some other works relating to the periodic table are mentioned briefly below.Primo Levi's work The periodic table (1982) is a marvelous book which ranks as a major work of literature; it has been reviewed by this reviewer on the Amazon site. Oliver Sack's book Uncle Tungsten is also widely admired and is also a great favorite of this reviewer. P. W Atkins' in his book The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey into the Land of the Chemical Elements provides a geographical metaphor for understanding the periodic table. Eric Scerri's The periodic table: its story and its significance (2006) and his collection of essays Selected papers on the periodic table (2009) also provide many valuable insights. Paul Strathern's book Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements is a recent biography of Dmetri Mendeleyev and the present reviewer has written about the eccentric Gustavus Hinrichs, who was a scientist involved in the development of the periodic table.
The disappearing spoon manages to find new ground to describe and relate the chemical albums to each other in an introduction and 19 chapters in 346 pages. The final section of the book includes acknowledgements, notes, a bibliography, a detailed and useful index and a clearly designed periodic table.
The disappearing spoon is excellent design and execution. The book manages to inform the reader with a mass of factual material and finds room to speculate about social and religious ideas which relates is that material. The book is a very useful to those teaching chemistry at almost any level. For the lower secondary students, a variety of stories are provided about scientists who worked on the periodic table together with factual knowledge about particular elements. Then at a senior level the book illustrates how various sciences such as astronomy geology and biology are impacted on by the properties of elements in the periodic table. This helps them integrate concepts in each of the major sciences. The author includes some interesting features about each of the elements and the book can easily be used as a reference work. For easy access, the index has the elements featured in bold type.
The relationships between the elements in the heading of each chapter are original and not predictable as they rely on a variety of properties and historical connections. Some stories, such as the `cold fusion' story, are well-known and may be better told elsewhere. On the other hand, there were numerous anecdotes that this reviewer had not seen elsewhere. A strength for chemistry teacher is to have a fund of good stories to make their lessons more interesting. This book is thus a gold mine for teachers!
There is one strange sentence at the bottom of page 101 but apart from this the style of the editing are good. The final chapter speculates about the future of the periodic table and the number of elements that may be artificially created. I certainly recommend this book most of the school library and for the individual but above all for science teachers.
BILL PALMER
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Similar Items
Related Subjects:(13)
- Periodic table of the elements.
- Chemical elements -- Miscellanea.
- Chemical elements
- Classification périodique des éléments.
- Éléments chimiques -- Miscellanées.
- periodic table.
- Periodic table of the elements
- Chemical elements.
- Periodic law.
- Chemisches Element
- Chemisches Element -- Geschichte.
- Chemisches Element -- Anekdote.
- Anekdote -- Chemisches Element.
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