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challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
slow-paced
Excessive footnotes slow the pace down to a crawl…
Had to return to the library, plus a lot of the stories I was already familiar with/heard/seen before.
Was curious about the disappearing spoon so I decided to read this book. It's filled with a lot of history-from all the different ways the periodic table has been organized to giving each element a time to shine so to speak. So it makes for good reading if you want to learn some trivia. However, I do find it odd that there were no pictures for a hundred pages and then introduce pictures. I would have liked to see what it's like to shine light through atoms and the interestingly named "Pac-Man" idea of how electrons were gobbled by atoms that was a thing for a while. Also some times I felt like it's more for scientifically minded-parts about ions and lasers kind of went over my head. But still, if you want a bit of history, politics, biology, and chemistry in one book, I'd offer this one.
The first 2/3 of the book are exactly what I was looking forward to when I chose it: mostly short, wild, fascinating stories about elements, the periodic table, and chemistry. The last third of the book was much more difficult to follow (with the exception of most of the last chapter, which describes the future of elemental discovery and alternate forms of the periodic table). Perhaps my mistake was in not having the book in print. Or maybe it was listening to it too close to the point where I could drop off into sleep, especially the weekend where I caught a nasty cold and woke up in the middle of funky, theoretical chapters. Or maybe I should have just paid more attention in chemistry in high school. I might try this one in print, just to see if any of the theoretical stuff is easier to digest on a real printed page. ALSO - the author's notes as done in the audiobook are incredibly disorienting. The narrator does not usually make a clear distinction as to where the note ends and the regular text begins. It would have been nice for the production team to set the notes apart with a tone or something, especially since there are SO many notes in this book.
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5/5.
Again, I'll give it a proper review after my finals -if I wasn't so spent then- but I feel the need to say I absolutely loved it.
Will totally read everything by Sam Kean.
Again, I'll give it a proper review after my finals -if I wasn't so spent then- but I feel the need to say I absolutely loved it.
Will totally read everything by Sam Kean.
A charming, sometimes disjointed tour of the elements of the periodic table, their discovery, and the interesting stories through history that feature them. I'm almost certain Kean intended for this book to be listened to, not read judging by the hyper-casual presentation. A very enjoyable, yet flawed book worth your time if you have a chemistry interest.
Science communication at its finest. Fun and interesting, but doesn’t go too deep
Chemistry beach read, consisting mostly of entertaining stories about the discovery of elements and the chemists who did it.