Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives Of The Elements (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Very interesting trip through the elements, when and who discovered them, and their uses, some of which I would have never guessed at. The Swedish discovered a number of the elements all from one mine but very few of them took credit for their discoveries. Their names aren't even mentioned in Swedish science museums! Other scientists or chemists took credit as they published the findings before their respective organizations. Marie Curie is there as well as her daughter who was also a scientist. The Radium Girls are mentioned and the fact that early paints had arsenic in them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had a roller coaster of a time reading this book. There were sections I hated and sections I loved. This was clearly written by a very intelligent man who has a sincere passion for this topic. This passion is SO complete that he is fascinated by everything about the table and elements so when he writes I can feel that he thinks he's writing something very interesting... sometimes I agreed and sometimes it was a bit long-winded and drawn out. Overall I found this book very interesting. I learned SO many things that I would have never known otherwise. And I have to say that a book that keeps me riveted and turning the pages while reading about a modern day man doing an experiment on his own urine... in my mind that deserves a big kudos to this author.
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