Theodore Gray's Elements Vault: Treasures of the Periodic Table with Removable Archival Documents and Real Element Samples - Including Pure Gold! [Hardcover]

Theodore Gray (Author), Simon Quellen Field (Author), Nick Mann (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1579128807 | ISBN-13: 978-1579128807 | Age Range: 8 and up

The exploration of the elements continues! Theodore Gray's Elements Vault builds on Gray's best-selling book with all new text, plus removable historic letters and other artifacts and collectible samples of real elements

The Elements Vault picks up where The Elements left off. Organized into the nine major groups of the periodic table, including the alkali metals, the alkali earth metals, the transition metals, the nonmetals, the metalloids, the halogens, the noble gases, the actinides, and the lanthanides, Elements Vault includes all new text, new photographs, and even more information about the elements.

Elements Vault also includes 20 removable historic documents related to the elements and the field of chemistry, such as Einstein's famous letter to Roosevelt explaining the potential of uranium for use in nuclear weapons, a genuine advertisement for lithium-laced 7UP soda, Mendeleev's original notes on the periodic table, and more. Each of these documents is individually packaged in an envelope attached to the book page. The document can be removed and handled and then put back into the book for safekeeping. Also here is a gorgeous 20" x 10" poster of the unique rainbow spectrum emitted by each element in the periodic table.

Also included inside the book are real samples of pure elements!

Filled with Theo Gray's and Nick Mann's trademark stunning photography throughout, Elements Vault is the perfect addition to Gray's growing series of all-things-elements.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I don't know if this is the first coffee-table book paying lush photographic homage to the periodic table, but it is certainly the most gorgeous one I've seen." --John Tierney, "The New York Times"

About the Author

Theodore Gray is the author of the bestselling The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe and Theo Gray's Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home, But Probably Shouldn't, and of Popular Science magazine's "Gray Matter" column.  He is the proprietor of periodictable.com.  He is also cofounder of Wolfram Research, creators of the world's leading technical software system, Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha.  With his company Touch Press, Gray is the developer of the bestselling iPad and iPhone ebook app, The Elements: A Visual Exploration and Solar System, also published in print by Black Dog & Leventhal.  He lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

Nick Mann is a freelance photographer working in Central Illinois.  Aside from having photographed more elements than probably anyone in the world, he is an accomplished landscape, sports, and event photographer.  

Simon Quellen Field is the author of five books on general science and chemistry, two on computing, and four novels (so far). He is the president and CEO of Kinetic Microscience, where he designs scientific toys and sells them on the website scitoys.com.

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (November 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579128807
• ISBN-13: 978-1579128807
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 1.4 x 10.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Chemistry > General & Reference

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 74 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling journey through the structure and science behind the Periodic Table - a good followup to The Elements December 1, 2011

By Joel Avrunin TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is aimed at the armchair scientists and "fans of science" who are concerned that this book looks like a gimmick, full of "pockets" and "real gold", more of a coffee table book than something educational. I bought this book on the strength of Gray's last book, and am glad I did.

Picking up where Theodore Gray's The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe left off, this is an excellent addition to your reference library. Not only does it contain new information on some key elements (and new photos), but most importantly it focuses more on the table itself. The last book focused on the elements with a little bit about the structure of the table. This book focuses on the relationships on the table, how elements in the same column or section are related. In fact, while his last book was organized by atomic weight, this one is organized by element group (roughly by column). In "The Elements", right after reading about the Alkaline Earth Metal Magnesium (12), the next element is Aluminum (13), an ordinary metal. In "Elements Vault", Magnesium is grouped with other Alkaline metals like Calcium (20), Strontrium (38), and Barium (56).

I smiled when I saw this key organizational difference as I had bookmarked "The Elements" so I could walk down the columns instead of across the rows. Gray has done that for me in this book. In fact, he goes so much further, explaining the physics and chemistry behind the periodic table, with a healthy dose of well explained quantum mechanics. The treasure of this book is not the penny's worth of gold leaf, but the well explained science that would require wading through college level textbooks to have distilled.

This book does not replace "The Elements" as "The Elements" had an entire page for each element, with crystal structure, atomic emission spectra, and state of matter. This book has large pages on some elements, and others have barely any description. In fact, man-made elements on gets 2 pages in The Elements Vault. In fact, the book lacks an index so it can be hard to look up a single element. The book is designed to be read front to back, or used as a reference based on family, such as Lanthanides and Actinides rather than Europium and Thorium. If you do want emission spectra, all of them are placed side-by-side on a beautiful fold out poster in the back.

So why 4 stars for a book for which I have such effusive praise? It's the "vault" aspect of the book. In my mind, it is a gimmick that makes the book harder to read. There are 10 full page envelopes that contain a single sided 8.5x11 inch piece of single sided text on card stock. Why not make this information a page in the book, instead of making it a "document" I have to remove to read and then put back? There are a few smaller document pouches, with things like an ad for 7-Up with lithium, an obituary for the purveyor of radium water, a postcard from Utah's copper mine, and others. Real elements include zirconium (cubic zirconia), gold (a sheet of insanely delicate gold leaf which is impossible to inspect without breaking), europium (luminous paint), flourine (teflon), and boron (silly putty).

Without the vault gimmick, the book is well worth the price here for the information contained within. In fact, I may just de-vault the book, put the loose pages in a binder, and make it a regular book. I have to deduct a star for this technical aspect, but the information contained within makes it well worth buying so I do heartily recommend it.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It gets even better! December 14, 2011

By A. Truong

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is an excellent companion to "The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe". I'll openly admit I never really understood (not really) the periodic table until Theodore's books. Now, the re-grouping of the elements into their columns and discussion of the commonalities of each group provides more insight to the overall "pattern of behavior" of the periodicity of the elements. This book provides a higher level description of the groups (columns) of the periodic table, while the previous book marches through the table, one element at a time. As for the samples: They are great! It may seem "gimmicky" to adults, but my children were fascinated to see and touch actual element samples - especially the gold leaf which was carefully inspected, then returned to its protective paper and cardboard envelope. Visual and tactile! Yet *another* dimension of interest that makes the elements come alive. And the easy-breezy tone makes it such a pleasure to read. These additions really do make the book feel like a "vault". The "historical documents" are a little bit klunky and "blah" though - they could have made them "pop-up" or "fold out" style rather than envelopes with sheets of paper in them.

If you had to choose only one of the two books, the original "Visual Exploration" is probably the better choice. Once you have that, though, this book is an excellent "and that's not all!" addition to your science library. I am glad we have both. THANK you Theodore Gray for making science come alive!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't put this book down..... January 5, 2012

By Amber A. Mccardle

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have always been fascinated by the elegance of the elements and the way they are arranged in the periodic table, but as a lay-person, struggled to understand them. Theodore Gary's wonderfully colourful book will explain in simple terms, the wonderful properties of each element, with their history, characteristics and uses. You will find yourself saying "Wow, I always wondered about that". This book is an excellent addition to your library - especially for young scientists, or eccentrics like me whose main aim in life is to actually construct a "periodic coffee table" with all the elements displayed on the table under glass. (Mission impossible, but it's fun trying). You will find it a great reference book too! Would highly recommend.