Reviews

An in-depth overview on the history, discovery, and use of all the elements within the periodic table; covering topics including war time, art and the economy, and extraterrestrial life forms.

This was such a huge endeavour and unfortunately was not successful. So much ground was covered in this book that I felt I was drowning most of the time. Humour abounds but did little to carry the heavy material along. More diagrams to explain complex, or even comical, parts would have been helpful.

robivy's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars. You have to be really, really into science to like this one. It was interesting for sure, but at times I felt myself wishing it would just end, and I felt the author could have gotten a better result by making it about half as long. I would have given it 4 stars if it had been more concise.

stormcorvin's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

Science with EQ

spamrisk's review against another edition

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4.0

If I were smarter,
I think I'd like this book more.
Needed more pictures.

omegabeth's review against another edition

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2.0

Not for me. Too much atomic science, not enough story. Nearly DNF, but after chapter 3 or so things did pick up. I also found that reading the endnotes as they came up helped me stay engaged. The writing is decent, and I could see that for the right person/brain/state of mind this could be a lot of fun, but did not enjoy it.

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