A review by baileysendsword
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

4.0

I almost put this book down in the beginning because it seemed like a dry repetition of every chemistry class I've had to sit through. But I'm really glad I didn't. Give this one some time. Make it past the first two chapters, because that's when it starts to get interesting. There were a few dry spots throughout and the writing is a little clunky in places, but I found myself forgiving Kean (something I rarely do when it comes to clunky writing) because the stories were so interesting. I'm surprised that some other reviews say the chemistry jargon is too much. I found it extremely accessible, and I haven't taken a chemistry class in years (and I wasn't so great at it back then). Could I look for these things in a lab? Um, no. But do I get what he means enough to be interested? Definitely yes. This one took me a while to get through, but only because I knew if I read quickly, it would be over that much sooner. That's always the sign of a good book to me.