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challenging
informative
slow-paced
Informative, fun stories but also hard to follow and continue.
I really wanted to like this book, but, like most of my high school chemistry class, I found it hard to follow. I loved the anecdotes and mini-histories, but once the discussion shifted to electrons and shells, I was hopelessly lost. I'm too much of a visual learner to read about complex or abstract concepts in prose.
No offense to Mr. Monihan, but if I had known a little bit more about the scientists or how they discovered the elements, I probably would have enjoyed chemistry a little more.
Very interesting stories about how elements were discovered, how the periodic table was invented, and other scientific achievements.
Great book about the stories behind elements--their discoveries and how they interact with the world. Things like a gold rush in Australia where gold bonded with another element, and people thought it wasn't gold, and used the metal in cement and things, and then found out later that it really was gold and went back to dig it up.
I read this for an article I'm writing and it took some scheduled time to finish it. It's not exactly a page-turner, but it's well-researched and much more interesting than any chemistry book I've read. Recommended for people who like chemistry.
I read this for an article I'm writing and it took some scheduled time to finish it. It's not exactly a page-turner, but it's well-researched and much more interesting than any chemistry book I've read. Recommended for people who like chemistry.
Wow! That is time in my life I won't get back...I'm trying to be fair with my 3 star rating. I really would give it 1 star but it is my fault for choosing it. If you are in to this science stuff then you probably will love it! It has great reviews. I guess I expected more stories about the discovery of the elements, but what I got was about 20% stories (which were mostly really interesting!) and 80% science which was, for me, mindnumbingly boring. Avery kept telling me to just stop reading it but I didn't want to be a quitter...I thought I might miss something great. And one of the stories at the end WAS really interesting, about the official kilogram kept in Paris. Anyway, if you like reading about electrons, fusion, heavy water, etc...this is for you.
I will echo some of the other reviewers in saying this is not the most smoothly-written non-fiction work I have ever picked up, and resembles rather a collection of stories more or less grouped by the elements in different columns and rows of the periodic table. There are some portions of chapters that are a bit head-scratchy if your knowledge of chemistry and physics is patchy at best (guilty), but you can still get the gist of the point being made, which is sufficient given the tone of the book is not academic.
I have to say Kean had a knack for making me interested in the actual human participants behind all the glorious and sometimes heinous discoveries made in the name of science, more so than the actual science itself, which is a pity, but certainly the suggestions on other titles to chase up to learn more about those people have duly made my to-read list, and I very much look forward to getting around to them (eventually; I alas am no good with coming up with a system for what I should read next and some stuff can get buried under new additions to my to-read pile for quite a while before I suddenly remember them). As it currently stands, I have Primo Levi's The Periodic Table to look forward to in the near future (it's been requested from another library, just waiting on it to be forwarded to my local branch), which has only come with the highest of recommendations.
I have to say Kean had a knack for making me interested in the actual human participants behind all the glorious and sometimes heinous discoveries made in the name of science, more so than the actual science itself, which is a pity, but certainly the suggestions on other titles to chase up to learn more about those people have duly made my to-read list, and I very much look forward to getting around to them (eventually; I alas am no good with coming up with a system for what I should read next and some stuff can get buried under new additions to my to-read pile for quite a while before I suddenly remember them). As it currently stands, I have Primo Levi's The Periodic Table to look forward to in the near future (it's been requested from another library, just waiting on it to be forwarded to my local branch), which has only come with the highest of recommendations.
Dry, dry, dry. Interesting factoids and some fascinating history can be excavated from the extraneous, if you're willing to do the work.
informative
reflective
Great beginning, I kinda lost intrest around the chemical warfare.
I love chemistry, but chemical warfare puts us chemist into a bad light.
I love chemistry, but chemical warfare puts us chemist into a bad light.