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115 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will look great on any table, periodic or otherwise, October 7, 2009
This review is from: The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe (Hardcover)
The Elements is a photographic tour de force of items from Theo Gray's personal collection of element samples. If he were to put on a museum show or do a PBS series, this would be the companion book.
It is a beautiful book, with excellent photography and very high resolution printing on a semi-matte black paper which gives the pictures a floating-in-space quality. About my only gripe is that this is the sort of paper that tends to absorb oil from your fingers and acquire permanent fingerprints, so one has to take a bit of care to keep it looking nice.
The bulk of the book consists of a two-page spread for each of elements 1 through 100. The left hand side of each spread will be a full-page image, typically of the element in its native mineral or a refined form, or some object constructed of the material etc. The right hand page contains a few paragraphs of interesting information/trivia about the element, as well as several images of items from the author's collection of objects made of, containing, or otherwise related to it.
For each there are also some pertinent facts such as its position in the periodic table, and diagrams of the atomic emission spectrum, the melting and boiling points, electron order filling, crystal structure, and some basic numerical facts of atomic weight, density, and radius.
There's also some introductory material and additional discussion of elements 101-118.
This is not a formal reference work in any sense. It's a picture book along with interesting trivia and information. But it is also a fabulously entertaining tour of the elements that make up our world, and it's an absolute joy to curl up with and browse through. A very satisfying thing to possess.
It also vividly demonstrates that there will still be a place for physical books for a long time, no matter how successful devices like the Kindle are. This is one you need to hold in your hands rather than read on some kind of screen (no matter how good).
This book gets firmly placed on my list of must-haves for anyone interested in science and the nature of our world and the universe. Very appropriate for science fans of any age.
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72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just Beautiful-- It's Hilarious, November 5, 2009
This review is from: The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe (Hardcover)
Chock full of beautifully done photos, as well as sharp wit. Just about every page has something silly somewhere. For example:
"Sodium is the most explosive and the best tasting of all the alkali metals"
"Disposable oxygen tanks for hobby brazing and as a refreshing pick-me-up..."
"So many important chemicals have been discovered by accident that one has to wonder what a bunch of bumblers chemists are"
"Bananas are high in potassium, thus both healthy and radioactive."
"This piece of the mineral thorite might contain an atom of francium, if you watch closely."
He's also quite informative. For example, some of you may have taken exception to his comment on sodium, which he explains on the page about cesium:
"Cesium is widely listed as the most reactive of all the alkali metals, and technically it is. When you drop a piece in a bowl of water it *instantly* explodes, sending water flying in all directions. But that doesn't mean it makes the biggest bang of the alkali metals. Sodium takes longer to explode when tossed into water but the whole time you're waiting, a plume of hydrogen gas is building up, and when all that hydrogen ignites, the explosion is much bigger than anything you can get with cesium"
Sounds like some important research there!
Or this fact that makes perfect sense, though I never really thought about it:
"Even lead will float on mercury"
Overall just an excellent, easily readable, pretty, thought-provoking book.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gorgeous Must-Have Book for all Nature Fans, October 11, 2009
This review is from: The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe (Hardcover)
The Elements by Theodore Gray is a must-have book for anyone who has ever wondered just what exactly the world is made of. That includes curious kids as well as adults with even a passing interest in nature, science and technology. The luscious photographs in this coffee table size book will captivate even young elementary students, while the surprising, witty, non-technical text will keep even professional chemists and engineers entertained and informed.
I opened my newly received copy late at night, intending to look at a few pages before bed. I literally could not put it down, and read it straight through from hydrogen to element 118, so newly discovered it doesn't even have a name yet. Each element's vignette smoothly segues into the next, so it works like an old radio serial melodrama - you just have to keep reading to find out what happens next!
Each element is covered in its order in the periodic table. Along with the multiple photos of pure elements and common (matches and nails) and exotic (atomic clocks and lasers) things containing them from Gray's extensive museum quality collection, you will learn trivia about ones you know well (aluminum, a metal so precious that Napoleon preferred it to gold for VIP dinnerware, is now thrown in the garbage after wrapping sandwiches); ones you might remember from high school (poisonous bromine is in every can of Orange Crush); and ones you probably never heard of (you are required by law to put radioactive americium in every one of your children's bedrooms, and you have!) Lovely diagrams show the electronic configuration, color spectrum and crystal shape. Melting and boiling point bars at the page margins cleverly form a graphic demonstration of the elements' periodic properties when the book is fanned open.
Objects pictured and discussed come from a wide variety of fields including painting, agriculture, medicine, aviation, numismatics, ancient history, warfare, popular culture, computers, jewelry and more.
For a fine art work of this size and quality, the price is ridiculously inexpensive. The high resolution photographs which fill each element's double page spread are printed on a deep black background, and seem to jump out of the page into your hands. You will find out why you might not want this to happen with arsenic or polonium.
The Elements will enhance your appreciation of the stuff the stars, the planets and we ourselves are made of, and make the universe, and your bookshelf, a more beautiful place.
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