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Elements #1
Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe
With more than 1 million copies sold worldwide, The Elements is the most entertaining, comprehensive, and visually arresting book on all 118 elements in the periodic table.
Includes a poster of Theodore Gray's iconic photographic periodic table of the elements!
Based on seven years of research and photography by Theodore Gray and Nick Mann, The Elements presents the most complete and visually arresting representation available to the naked eye of every atom in the universe. Organized sequentially by atomic number, every element is visualized by a big beautiful photograph that most closely represents it in its purest form. Several additional photographs show each element in slightly altered forms or as used in various practical ways. Also included are fascinating stories of the elements, told in Theo Grays inimitable style, as well as data on the properties of each, including atomic number, atomic symbol, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, as well as scales for electron filling order, state of matter, and an atomic emission spectrum.
This work of solid science and stunning artistic photographs is the perfect gift book for every sentient creature in the universe.
Includes a poster of Theodore Gray's iconic photographic periodic table of the elements!
Based on seven years of research and photography by Theodore Gray and Nick Mann, The Elements presents the most complete and visually arresting representation available to the naked eye of every atom in the universe. Organized sequentially by atomic number, every element is visualized by a big beautiful photograph that most closely represents it in its purest form. Several additional photographs show each element in slightly altered forms or as used in various practical ways. Also included are fascinating stories of the elements, told in Theo Grays inimitable style, as well as data on the properties of each, including atomic number, atomic symbol, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, as well as scales for electron filling order, state of matter, and an atomic emission spectrum.
This work of solid science and stunning artistic photographs is the perfect gift book for every sentient creature in the universe.
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2009
About the author
Theodore Gray
29 books127 followersTheodore Gray is the author of 'The Elements' and '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 and the creator of the iconic photographic periodic table poster seen in universities, schools, museums, and on TV shows from 'MythBusters' to 'Hannah Montana'. In his other life, he is co-founder of the software company Wolfram Research, creators of the world's leading technical software system, Mathematica®, and WolframlAlphaTM. He lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
From periodictable.com
From periodictable.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 441 reviews
February 7, 2019
For those of a scientific bent who enjoy getting their knowledge along with helpful photographs, tables and diagrams, this is a place worth visiting. It is organized by way of the periodic table, that classic graphic, with which most of us had to become familiar before college.
There are several levels of detail in this book, so it may hook you into revisiting “elements” from time to time. You can preview the book on the Amazon site https://smile.amazon.com/Elements-Vis...
Here is a sample:
"Beryllium is a light metal (though three and a half times the density of lithium, it’s still significantly less dense than aluminum, element 13). Where lithium is soft, low-melting, and reactive, beryllium is strong, melts at a high temperature, and is notably resistant to corrosion. These properties, combined with its high cost and poisonous nature, account for the unique niche beryllium has carved out for itself: missile and rocket parts, where cost is no object, where strength without weight is king, and where working with toxic materials is the least of your worries.
"Beryllium has other fancy applications. It is transparent to x-rays, so it’s used in the windows of x-ray tubes, which need to be strong enough to hold a perfect vacuum, yet thin enough to let the delicate x-rays out. A few percent of it alloyed with copper (29) forms a high-strength, nonsparking alloy used for tools deployed around oil wells and flammable gases, where a spark from an iron tool could spell disaster, in great big flaming red letters. In keeping with the sport of golf’s tendency to use high-tech materials out of a desperate hope that they may help get the ball where it’s supposed to go, beryllium copper is also used in golf-club heads. Needless to say, it doesn’t help any more than the manganese bronze or titanium (22) used for the same purpose.
"Combining beauty with brawn, the mineral beryl is a crystalline form of beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate. You may be more familiar with the green and blue varieties of beryl, which are known as emerald and aquamarine."
And for the more geekish:
"It is this filling order that determines the shape of the periodic table. The first two columns represent electrons filling “s” orbitals. The next ten columns are electrons filling the five “d” orbitals. The final six columns are electrons filling the three “p” orbitals. And last but not least, the fourteen rare earths are electrons filling the seven “f” orbitals. (If you’re asking yourself why helium, element 2, is not above beryllium, element 4, congratulations—you’re thinking like a chemist rather than a physicist.)"
A very pleasing book both in text and graphics, rendered beautifully for the Kindle Fire.
There are several levels of detail in this book, so it may hook you into revisiting “elements” from time to time. You can preview the book on the Amazon site https://smile.amazon.com/Elements-Vis...
Here is a sample:
"Beryllium is a light metal (though three and a half times the density of lithium, it’s still significantly less dense than aluminum, element 13). Where lithium is soft, low-melting, and reactive, beryllium is strong, melts at a high temperature, and is notably resistant to corrosion. These properties, combined with its high cost and poisonous nature, account for the unique niche beryllium has carved out for itself: missile and rocket parts, where cost is no object, where strength without weight is king, and where working with toxic materials is the least of your worries.
"Beryllium has other fancy applications. It is transparent to x-rays, so it’s used in the windows of x-ray tubes, which need to be strong enough to hold a perfect vacuum, yet thin enough to let the delicate x-rays out. A few percent of it alloyed with copper (29) forms a high-strength, nonsparking alloy used for tools deployed around oil wells and flammable gases, where a spark from an iron tool could spell disaster, in great big flaming red letters. In keeping with the sport of golf’s tendency to use high-tech materials out of a desperate hope that they may help get the ball where it’s supposed to go, beryllium copper is also used in golf-club heads. Needless to say, it doesn’t help any more than the manganese bronze or titanium (22) used for the same purpose.
"Combining beauty with brawn, the mineral beryl is a crystalline form of beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate. You may be more familiar with the green and blue varieties of beryl, which are known as emerald and aquamarine."
And for the more geekish:
"It is this filling order that determines the shape of the periodic table. The first two columns represent electrons filling “s” orbitals. The next ten columns are electrons filling the five “d” orbitals. The final six columns are electrons filling the three “p” orbitals. And last but not least, the fourteen rare earths are electrons filling the seven “f” orbitals. (If you’re asking yourself why helium, element 2, is not above beryllium, element 4, congratulations—you’re thinking like a chemist rather than a physicist.)"
A very pleasing book both in text and graphics, rendered beautifully for the Kindle Fire.
December 2, 2017
I did not particularly enjoy chemistry, nor do I remember it very well, apparently! There have been some elements added to the periodic table since I was in school, but not as many as I thought. My 9-year-old son chose this at his school book fair and we have read it from cover to cover. He enjoys quizzing me and there are SO many that I’m convinced are new! Ha! Nope.
This book is informative and visually interesting. Packed with photo examples of elements in everyday objects and pieces from the author’s collection, as well as lots of important information (atomic weight, radius, density,etc) and interesting facts. Making science fun!
This book is informative and visually interesting. Packed with photo examples of elements in everyday objects and pieces from the author’s collection, as well as lots of important information (atomic weight, radius, density,etc) and interesting facts. Making science fun!
July 3, 2010
When I was a kid, my father had the entire Time/Life science series. For you young whippersnappers, Time/Life books were educational series that covered all kinds of topics - history, science, literature, you name it. The idea was that you sign up and they send you books, once a month, until the series was finished or you decided you no longer wanted to receive it.
The Science series focused on, of course, science, with books devoted to every facet of physics, medicine, chemistry, biology.... It was a fantastic compendium of human knowledge in those pre-internet days, and I just loved it. I learned about how traveling at lightspeed squashes things by reading a story about spies chasing each other on the Lightspeed Express. I learned about how different drugs affect the mind and body. I learned about how important the wheel was, what water could do, and how the food we eat determines almost everything about our lives.
My favorite volume of all of them was titled Matter, and it was about all the stuff there is. At the center of it was a pictorial representation of all the elements known to science in 1968. Everything from Hydrogen to Uranium and beyond. I could pore over those pages for hours, amazed by the idea that these things were all there was, made up everything around me. Learning that just six of them (Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Calcium and Phosphorus) made up most of, well, me was just mind-bending.
I don't know where that book is now - probably in a box at my mother's house - but the effect that it had on me has lasted ever since my childhood. In fact, as I was researching this review, I found the place that sells coins stamped from elemental metals and got completely distracted by the struggle to not buy any of them. So that's how Time/Life made me into a science nerd. Nevertheless, I was thrilled when I saw this book, and had to snap it up as soon as I could. It cost a whole lot less than a 1/10 troy ounce Rhodium coin
Theodore Gray is an element hunter - something I didn't even know existed when I was a kid. He has made a hobby of trying to collect samples of every element that is is possible to (legally) own, and he's even built a special table to hold them all. A periodic table, as it were, which won him the IgNobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002. He and Nick Mann went through the collection to make outstanding, high-quality photographs and compile them into a fantastic book about "everything you can drop on your foot."
It starts, of course, with a basic rundown of what an element is - a substance made of only one type of atom - and what the Periodic Table is - an organization of the elements by their common properties. There's also a page explaining the physics behind the shape of the table, what an "electron filling order" is, and why the atomic emission spectrum is so important. Fortunately for us non-professionals, he does this is a way that is amusing and understandable. Gray knows that his audience isn't professional chemists or grad students - it's people like me. People who are fans of science, but who, for one reason or another, never got into the real nitty-gritty of it. All of this means that it's a book you can enjoy even if you remember nothing from high school chemistry other than "BIFF=WANG." [1:]
The book starts, of course, at hydrogen, the element that makes the sun burn ("Even at night," alleges the author, but I'll believe that when I see it) and ends with Ununoctium, which will no doubt get a proper name once those crazy kids in the high-energy physics lab get around to assembling it. It includes the spectre of the modern age, Uranium, and its evil twin Plutonium. There's Carbon, without which none of us would be here, and Arsenic, which does a fine job of seeing to it that we cease to be. There's Iron, which we use in abundance, and Dysprosium, which has almost no uses that you've ever heard of. Cesium tells us what time it is, and Krypton, which used to tell us how long things were (before we figured out the speed of light.) Strontium and Calcium, Sodium and Americium, Gold, Silver, Copper and Lead - every element is in here, waiting for you.
They're accompanied by wonderful photographs that illustrate the applications of each element, as well as diagrams showing its emission spectrum, crystal structure, and other information that you may or may not be interested in. Regardless of how much you know about chemistry, you should find this to be a fascinating and enjoyable book. Moreover, if you have kids and you want them to be exposed to science in a way that engages their fascination and imagination, then this is the book for you. Just be ready to raise a science nerd, and if they ask for an elemental coin for their birthday, remember - Lead isn't just for toys anymore!
[1:] Thanks, Mr. Hiza!
The Science series focused on, of course, science, with books devoted to every facet of physics, medicine, chemistry, biology.... It was a fantastic compendium of human knowledge in those pre-internet days, and I just loved it. I learned about how traveling at lightspeed squashes things by reading a story about spies chasing each other on the Lightspeed Express. I learned about how different drugs affect the mind and body. I learned about how important the wheel was, what water could do, and how the food we eat determines almost everything about our lives.
My favorite volume of all of them was titled Matter, and it was about all the stuff there is. At the center of it was a pictorial representation of all the elements known to science in 1968. Everything from Hydrogen to Uranium and beyond. I could pore over those pages for hours, amazed by the idea that these things were all there was, made up everything around me. Learning that just six of them (Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Calcium and Phosphorus) made up most of, well, me was just mind-bending.
I don't know where that book is now - probably in a box at my mother's house - but the effect that it had on me has lasted ever since my childhood. In fact, as I was researching this review, I found the place that sells coins stamped from elemental metals and got completely distracted by the struggle to not buy any of them. So that's how Time/Life made me into a science nerd. Nevertheless, I was thrilled when I saw this book, and had to snap it up as soon as I could. It cost a whole lot less than a 1/10 troy ounce Rhodium coin
Theodore Gray is an element hunter - something I didn't even know existed when I was a kid. He has made a hobby of trying to collect samples of every element that is is possible to (legally) own, and he's even built a special table to hold them all. A periodic table, as it were, which won him the IgNobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002. He and Nick Mann went through the collection to make outstanding, high-quality photographs and compile them into a fantastic book about "everything you can drop on your foot."
It starts, of course, with a basic rundown of what an element is - a substance made of only one type of atom - and what the Periodic Table is - an organization of the elements by their common properties. There's also a page explaining the physics behind the shape of the table, what an "electron filling order" is, and why the atomic emission spectrum is so important. Fortunately for us non-professionals, he does this is a way that is amusing and understandable. Gray knows that his audience isn't professional chemists or grad students - it's people like me. People who are fans of science, but who, for one reason or another, never got into the real nitty-gritty of it. All of this means that it's a book you can enjoy even if you remember nothing from high school chemistry other than "BIFF=WANG." [1:]
The book starts, of course, at hydrogen, the element that makes the sun burn ("Even at night," alleges the author, but I'll believe that when I see it) and ends with Ununoctium, which will no doubt get a proper name once those crazy kids in the high-energy physics lab get around to assembling it. It includes the spectre of the modern age, Uranium, and its evil twin Plutonium. There's Carbon, without which none of us would be here, and Arsenic, which does a fine job of seeing to it that we cease to be. There's Iron, which we use in abundance, and Dysprosium, which has almost no uses that you've ever heard of. Cesium tells us what time it is, and Krypton, which used to tell us how long things were (before we figured out the speed of light.) Strontium and Calcium, Sodium and Americium, Gold, Silver, Copper and Lead - every element is in here, waiting for you.
They're accompanied by wonderful photographs that illustrate the applications of each element, as well as diagrams showing its emission spectrum, crystal structure, and other information that you may or may not be interested in. Regardless of how much you know about chemistry, you should find this to be a fascinating and enjoyable book. Moreover, if you have kids and you want them to be exposed to science in a way that engages their fascination and imagination, then this is the book for you. Just be ready to raise a science nerd, and if they ask for an elemental coin for their birthday, remember - Lead isn't just for toys anymore!
[1:] Thanks, Mr. Hiza!
December 30, 2010
I am a chemist and have always been fascinated by the Periodic Table of Elements. So, imagine my excitement when I saw this book sitting in the bookstore. Not only does it provide information on all 118 elements in the Periodic Table, it does it in a way that is interesting, accessible, and beautiful. This is a book that makes you want to touch it and turn the pages, you just can't resist. The picture of the elements are colorful and intriguing; they are all featured on a stylish black background...this is just a beautiful book.
Each element features a picture of the element in its purest form. The side of the page has a small strip that gives lots of technical data. The elements position on the periodic table is showm, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, crystal structure, electron order filing, atomic emissions spectrum, and state of matter are all given in this strip. The rest of the page is given over to a few paragraphs about the element. Then there are excellent pictures showing instances where the element is used and these pictures also have small descriptions. Most elements are given a two page spread, but some of the lucky elements get 4 pages!
In addition to the individual elements the beginning of the book discusses the different sections of the periodic table and how the periodic table of elements got its shape.
This is more of a coffee table book than an ultimate reference to the Periodic Table of Elements. Although it does provide a lot of information on the Elements. Much of the discussion on each Element is anecdotal and somewhat humorous. This makes the book an excellent reference for the layman interested in Elements, it also makes the book an entertaining read. You would have to go elsewhere to get into the gritty details of some of these elements though....for example if you were trying to synthesize something with them or something else deeply technical.
Overall I really loved this book. It is such an awesome book with such neat pictures. Everyone in the house from my computer loving husband to my three year old son has spent time looking through this book. It is just such an interesting book and it is presented in such a beautiful way. Not to mention it is even fun to read! I think everyone should have this book in their house; if nothing else it makes for interesting discussions as you see the bizarre forms of some of the elements.
Each element features a picture of the element in its purest form. The side of the page has a small strip that gives lots of technical data. The elements position on the periodic table is showm, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, crystal structure, electron order filing, atomic emissions spectrum, and state of matter are all given in this strip. The rest of the page is given over to a few paragraphs about the element. Then there are excellent pictures showing instances where the element is used and these pictures also have small descriptions. Most elements are given a two page spread, but some of the lucky elements get 4 pages!
In addition to the individual elements the beginning of the book discusses the different sections of the periodic table and how the periodic table of elements got its shape.
This is more of a coffee table book than an ultimate reference to the Periodic Table of Elements. Although it does provide a lot of information on the Elements. Much of the discussion on each Element is anecdotal and somewhat humorous. This makes the book an excellent reference for the layman interested in Elements, it also makes the book an entertaining read. You would have to go elsewhere to get into the gritty details of some of these elements though....for example if you were trying to synthesize something with them or something else deeply technical.
Overall I really loved this book. It is such an awesome book with such neat pictures. Everyone in the house from my computer loving husband to my three year old son has spent time looking through this book. It is just such an interesting book and it is presented in such a beautiful way. Not to mention it is even fun to read! I think everyone should have this book in their house; if nothing else it makes for interesting discussions as you see the bizarre forms of some of the elements.
July 21, 2010
I think I might go 4.5 stars on this if that were an option. This got great reviews and was recommended for purchase by Jon M., one of our science teachers. I sat down to catalog it yesterday and ended up pretty much reading the whole thing. It has been many a year since I had to think about Chemistry, but even if I had zero background in the subject I think I still would have found the book fascinating.
First of all, it's just a thing of beauty - black background pages with photos that just pop out at you (more on that later), of objects made from each element. There's also a chunk of text spelling out the most intriguing tidbits about the properties and history of the element in question, always ending with a clever segue into the next element. (While I imagine some might find that to be a little forced by the time the last element rolls around, I really enjoyed the humor, and it also served to reinforce the importance of the placement of the elements in the table; just as with the Dewey Decimal System, similar topics/elements sit side-by-side ).
Speaking of humor, there were several places where I found myself laughing out loud, e.g., under the description for europium: "With the invention of europeum-based red phosphors, color television could suddenly become bright and vibrant, thus contributing even more effectively to the rotting of children's minds the world over."
Now about that 3-D effect... If you go to the author's website (periodictable.com) you can see the photographic periodic table and click on the element of most interest to you. There, you can view a video of the object of your choice rotating in space, and/or move it around with your keyboard. But, to go one step even better, for those of you with iPads you can install an app that lets you access the book and turn the objects around using your finger! I do appreciate it when a technology is used for something it is uniquely suited to do, and this seems to be such an instance. Can't wait to try it on an iPad - Sharan?
September 3, 2011
When I picked up this book in the library I skimmed the first couple of pages, looked at a random entry, and really liked what I saw. When I started reading it, I laughed out loud at the first line: "The periodic table is the universal catalog of everything you can drop on your foot."
But then things started to slip. Gray's humor is wildly uneven and mixes on-target wit with ham-fisted jokes and gratuitous insults aimed at anything he considers silly or stupid. This kind of arbitrary prejudice and bigotry have no place in a book like this. By way of example, I will quote from the first paragraph about Yttrium (the last entry I could stand to read): "Yttrium is something of a hippy element. First, it's named after a village is Sweden, a notably loose country. Second, it is beloved by new age practitioners .... it really ticks me off ascribe magical properties to things in the world that are magical, but in ways they completely miss."
Gray is not a scientist. A scientist would simply make his case and move on. Confronted by something he did not accept, he would say, "Really?? Show me your data." And Gray is not a science writer because a real science writer knows that he isn't writing for the editorial page. No, Gray is either terribly insecure and threatened by alien beliefs or he is an agent of science-turned-fundamentalist-religion. Either way, his comments are unacceptable in a book about real science, even one intended for a mass audience.
This is a crushing disappointment. Where Gray is funny, he is funny. The photographs are gorgeous, the examples are compelling, and the structure of the book overall makes an excellent tour of the elements. And I really enjoyed seeing examples of Gray's fascination with the elements in the carvings and sculptures he has made over the years.
Get rid of the frat boy humor and social agenda, and I'd give this five stars in a heartbeat.
But then things started to slip. Gray's humor is wildly uneven and mixes on-target wit with ham-fisted jokes and gratuitous insults aimed at anything he considers silly or stupid. This kind of arbitrary prejudice and bigotry have no place in a book like this. By way of example, I will quote from the first paragraph about Yttrium (the last entry I could stand to read): "Yttrium is something of a hippy element. First, it's named after a village is Sweden, a notably loose country. Second, it is beloved by new age practitioners .... it really ticks me off ascribe magical properties to things in the world that are magical, but in ways they completely miss."
Gray is not a scientist. A scientist would simply make his case and move on. Confronted by something he did not accept, he would say, "Really?? Show me your data." And Gray is not a science writer because a real science writer knows that he isn't writing for the editorial page. No, Gray is either terribly insecure and threatened by alien beliefs or he is an agent of science-turned-fundamentalist-religion. Either way, his comments are unacceptable in a book about real science, even one intended for a mass audience.
This is a crushing disappointment. Where Gray is funny, he is funny. The photographs are gorgeous, the examples are compelling, and the structure of the book overall makes an excellent tour of the elements. And I really enjoyed seeing examples of Gray's fascination with the elements in the carvings and sculptures he has made over the years.
Get rid of the frat boy humor and social agenda, and I'd give this five stars in a heartbeat.
March 13, 2017
Yes, this is a book about the Periodic Table of elements, you know that thing they made you memorize in school that bored you to tears and that you didn't enjoy at all. This book takes something that many thought was just memorization and boredom and makes it extremely interesting, amusing, fascinating, engrossing, and yes, even educational. The photos are fabulous. The information is presented in a highly engrossing format. If you have any interest at all in the elements, or are having to study the periodic table and are not enjoying it, then you need this book. It is fabulous.
July 11, 2022
Another book my son-in-law Ben chose to read with the family for read-aloud. We have been learning so much about the elements since he’s joined our family two years ago. It’s been an enlightening journey!
The wit of this author is very similar to the last book we read with my SIL. Makes it more entertaining.
The wit of this author is very similar to the last book we read with my SIL. Makes it more entertaining.
February 18, 2014
i've bought this guy's beautiful poster twice (http://periodictable.com/Posters/Post... you can see it in my atlanta condo's technical bay (http://nick-black.com/dankwiki/index....). so, when i saw this sitting around at google, i picked it up and read it through. the pictures and printing are stunning, and it's one of the most perfect coffee tables i've ever seen. i deduct two stars, however, due to wasting a quarter of every recto page on highly repetitive graphics, redundant in and of themselves (if you're going to do a pigeonhole representation of electron positions, you don't also need do a pictorial s-d-p-f representation, which latter isn't even meaningful in the first place, argh). i like the spectral display for each element, but including actual wavelengths along with color would have been nice. common compounds of each element could have occupied some of this space much more effectively. there's a very heavy emphasis on metallurgy and mechanical engineering in the way-too-short writeups. most elements' nomenclature is explained, but not all. if you wanted to know that carbon* derives its named from latin carbo (coal), you'll have to look elsewhere.
i was really surprised that certain basic weirdnesses of the Table (increases of atomic number corresponding to decreases in mass, the science behind state transitions, which are the least/most for any number of properties, etc.).
the bibliography is unspeakably wretched, and no citations are supplied. you're buying this for the pictures, plain and simple.
it turns out the author works at wolfram research, take that for whatever it's worth, if anything (if the words A New Kind of Science mean nothing to you, just ignore this).
overall, a beautiful book with much less impressive text, though i dig enjoy his constant vituperation regarding incandescent light bulbs.
* note that he does bother to explain that, e.g., europium is named after europe, which i'd rather hope one could figure out, or is in any case less than a question of "carbon" which i suppose one could think meant "good car" or something. either way i don't think anyone so stupid is reading about europium.
i was really surprised that certain basic weirdnesses of the Table (increases of atomic number corresponding to decreases in mass, the science behind state transitions, which are the least/most for any number of properties, etc.).
the bibliography is unspeakably wretched, and no citations are supplied. you're buying this for the pictures, plain and simple.
it turns out the author works at wolfram research, take that for whatever it's worth, if anything (if the words A New Kind of Science mean nothing to you, just ignore this).
overall, a beautiful book with much less impressive text, though i dig enjoy his constant vituperation regarding incandescent light bulbs.
* note that he does bother to explain that, e.g., europium is named after europe, which i'd rather hope one could figure out, or is in any case less than a question of "carbon" which i suppose one could think meant "good car" or something. either way i don't think anyone so stupid is reading about europium.
January 12, 2010
What can I say? The Periodic Table has never seemed so cool in this gorgeously photographed coffee table book.
This is not a reference work, although it does contain basic information on each element like its position in the periodic table, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, crystal structure, electron filling order, atomic emission spectrum, and state of matter (solid/liquid/gas) vs temperature.
Instead .. it is a work to inspire wonder with first-rate, brilliantly-lit photographs for almost every element drawn from the author's extensive personal collection. Which is truly riveting and awesome in its scope. The photos are well-captioned and help flesh out and complement the brief text essay accompanying each element. A hybrid of trivia and facts mixed together with a liberal dash of dry wit, the text is so quippy and fascinating that for many elements I wished it wasn't so scanty and that there was just .... more.
You'll definitely find yourself thinking differently about what things are made of after pondering these pages. A walk through your local home improvement store will certainly never seem the same, that's for sure.
Appropriate for science fans, chemistry lovers, and chic geeks of any age. And if you can't get enough, there is a periodic table poster using the photos available separately too .. highly recommended.
This is not a reference work, although it does contain basic information on each element like its position in the periodic table, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, crystal structure, electron filling order, atomic emission spectrum, and state of matter (solid/liquid/gas) vs temperature.
Instead .. it is a work to inspire wonder with first-rate, brilliantly-lit photographs for almost every element drawn from the author's extensive personal collection. Which is truly riveting and awesome in its scope. The photos are well-captioned and help flesh out and complement the brief text essay accompanying each element. A hybrid of trivia and facts mixed together with a liberal dash of dry wit, the text is so quippy and fascinating that for many elements I wished it wasn't so scanty and that there was just .... more.
You'll definitely find yourself thinking differently about what things are made of after pondering these pages. A walk through your local home improvement store will certainly never seem the same, that's for sure.
Appropriate for science fans, chemistry lovers, and chic geeks of any age. And if you can't get enough, there is a periodic table poster using the photos available separately too .. highly recommended.
October 10, 2019
This is a great textbook for an introduction into the magnificent world of elements. From gold to uranium, hydrogen to potassium, Theodore Gray accurately and simply explains the properties and uses of both in the past and now that humankind has discovered-- with a bit of humor sprinkled in.
November 29, 2011
I love this book so much, it's ridiculous. As someone who spent most of high school and college trying to like science and failing (often in more than one way--I'm looking at you, Organic Chemistry!), as in adult I've come to love books that make science interesting. I've been into pop-physics lately, and occasionally the history of math, and like those, this book really makes me wonder why science education is so damn boring. Every Chem class I took felt so overwhelmingly dry and irrelevant, when in fact we are surrounded by chemicals compounds all day every day. All it takes is some cool (very very cool) photographs of the elements, and some more cool pictures of related items, and BAM! science is awesome!
I flip through this book when I'm bored. It's the perfect coffee table book for nerdy people like me. If every high school kid had read this instead of staring blankly at that damn colored elements chart that look something the 1970s coughed up, we'd have more chemists and scientists in general. Or at least they'd know how pretty crystallized Bismuth is. (Really, it's very pretty.)
I flip through this book when I'm bored. It's the perfect coffee table book for nerdy people like me. If every high school kid had read this instead of staring blankly at that damn colored elements chart that look something the 1970s coughed up, we'd have more chemists and scientists in general. Or at least they'd know how pretty crystallized Bismuth is. (Really, it's very pretty.)
July 13, 2019
”Elementele” este o lucrare masivă, care ia tabelul elementelor al lui Mendeleev și analizează, descrie, înfățișează toate cele 118 elemente cunoscute, cum au fost descoperite și la ce sunt întrebuințate. Imaginile sunt extraordinare. Nivelul este oarecum mai ridicat, dar pentru o persoană pasionată de chimie de orice vârstă este enciclopedia (aproape) perfectă.
July 8, 2018
Light, informative, illustrative, simple, and sometimes funny. This book is perfect to read when you have free few minutes, as each element takes no longer than 3-4 minutes to read and learn about.
September 1, 2025
Super cool book! My kids and I love looking through this. Sometimes, the periodic table seems so abstract to me, but this book makes the elements more accessible with really cool pictures and facts about each element.
August 6, 2026
I loved this! It is thoroughly enjoyable and I had lots of fun learning about all the elements that make up the periodic table. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys science and non-fiction.
The very beginning of the book has lots of general information about how the elements are defined and how to interpret the periodic table. Here are the major groups of the periodic table, as defined at the start of the book by the arrangement of columns. The alkali metals are in the first column, alkali earth metals in the second, transition metals in the next ten columns, ordinary metals (including non-metals and metalloids) in the next two, followed by halogens and noble gases in the final two; rare earth metals typically fall below the periodic table, but they make up fifteen extra columns in the sixth and seventh rows.
Beautiful pictures throughout for each of the elements, with numerous examples of the element being used for just about every element (all except for the rarest and shortest lived ones). The author is an element collector and has collected physical samples for nearly all of the elements at his house/laboratory. Insane.
This is easily one of the best books I have read all year. I eventually want to buy this book so I can have a copy in my office! (and maybe also one at home)
••••
“The periodic table is the universal catalog of everything you can drop on your foot. There are some things, such as light, love, logic, and time, that are not in the periodic table. But you can’t drop any of those things on your foot…” — Page 5
“Chemistry is a bit like that: powerful enough to do great things in the world, but also dangerous enough to do terrible things just as easily. If you don’t respect it, chemistry bites.” — Page 7
“Stars shine because they are transmuting vast amounts of hydrogen into helium. Our sun alone consumes six hundred million tons of hydrogen per second, converting it into five hundred and ninety-six million tons of helium. Think about it: Six hundred million tons per second. Even at night. And where does the other four million tons per second go? It’s converted into energy according to Einstein’s famous formula, E = mc^2. About three-and-a-half-pounds-per-second’s worth finds its way to the earth, where it forms the light of the dawn rising, the warmth of a summer afternoon, and the red glow of a dying day…” — Page 15
“Helium is named for the Greek god of the sun, Helios, because the first hints of its existence were dark lines in the spectrum of sunlight that couldn’t explained by the presence of any elements known at the time. It might seem a paradox that an element common enough to fill party balloons with was the first element to be discovered in space. The reason is that helium is one of the noble gases, so named because they do not interact with the common riffraff of elements, remaining inert and aloof to nearly all chemical bonding. Because it does not interact, helium could not easily be detected by conventional wet chemical methods.” — Page 17
“Carbon is the most important element of life, period. Sure, there are many others without which life would not exist, but from the spiral backbone of DNA to the intricate rings and streamers of steroids and proteins, carbon is the element whose unique properties tie it all together. The very term ‘organic compound’ refers explicitly to chemicals containing carbon.” — Page 25
“If carbon is the foundation of life, then oxygen is the fuel. Oxygen’s ability to react with just about any organic compound is what drives the processes of life... (Actually, the term ‘fuel’ usually refers to the thing that is burned by an ‘oxidizer,’ so I’m speaking metaphorically when I say oxygen is the fuel of life. Technically speaking, oxygen is the oxidizer of life.)” — Page 29
“Fluorine is among the most reactive of all the elements. Blow a stream of fluorine gas at almost anything, and it will burst into flame. That includes things not normally thought of as flammable, such as glass. Interestingly, the more reactive an element is, the more stable are its compounds. When we say fluorine is highly reactive, we mean that a large amount of energy is released when it combines with other elements. The resulting compounds are very stable because the same large quantity of energy must be put back in if you want to tear them apart. This energy must be supplied by some yet-more-reactive substance, of which, in the case of fluorine, there are precious few.” — Page 31
“… Intriguingly, the writer Isaac Asimov speculated that the level of [potassium-40] radiation, which has been decreasing on a billion-year timescale since the formation of the earth, determined the window of opportunity for intelligent life to evolve. Too much [potassium-40] in the early earth prevented the formation or fragile long genomes; too little [potassium-40] later on would make the rate of mutation, and thus the rate of evolution, too slow to accomplish much. Pure speculation of course, but it is interesting to reflect on the idea that without radiation-induced mutation, we might not be here to speculate…” — Page 53
“… So important is iron as a metal that it’s easy to forget that many forms of life depend crucially on iron atoms, such as those trapped in the core of the protein hemoglobin and responsible for transporting oxygen in our blood. Iron is thus one of the most crucial of the minor constituents of the human body…” — Page 69
“When Dimitri Mendeleev in 1869 created his first systematic arrangements of the elements, which would eventually become the modern periodic table, he bravely left gaps where he thought as-yet-undiscovered elements must exist. Germanium, discovered nearly twenty years later with properties that matched Mendeleev’s predictions almost exactly, filled one of those holes and helped establish his periodic table as one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.” — Page 85
“Holmium achieves the pinnacle of aspirations for a rare earth element. All of them have some kind of interesting magnetic property, but holmium has the highest value for a particularly important one, the magnetic moment. What this means is that when holmium atoms line up with the field and concentrate it, bringing the magnetic lines of force closer together, thus raising the field’s local intensity. If you put a slug made of holmium — called a pole piece — at the end of a magnet, you get a stronger magnet. Holmium pole pieces are used in MRI machines, in which extremely intense magnetic fields line up the atoms in the body so their nuclear spins can cb e measured. These magnets are so strong that elaborate precautions are take. to make sure that no metal objects ever get near them…” — Page 155
“I wish I could explain in a few paragraphs how a laser works, I really do. But it takes a couple of years of calculus and a semester or two of physics to even ask the question properly. Once you get there, the answer is absolutely worth it, deep and beautiful and so real you can taste it. This and the many answers like it are among the main reasons to study higher mathematics. Math is the language in which the secrets of the universe are written, and through its understanding comes enlightenment. So do your homework, okay? It’s worth the journey.” — Page 161
“Chemistry is primarily the story of the outermost shell of electrons. Elements with the same number of electrons in that outermost shell tend to have similar chemical properties. This is, in fact, the fundamental principle that gives shape to the periodic table — elements within a given column have the same number of these ‘valence electrons.’ In most parts of the periodic table, when you move from one element to the next you are adding a new valence electron each time, giving each new element unique properties. But in the rare earth range, electrons are being added to an inner shell instead: Every one of the rare earths from 57 to 71 has a filled ‘6s’ outer electron shell, and differing numbers of the deep ‘4f’ shell, which contributes only minimally to chemical properties. (Nothing with chemistry is quite that simple, so for example gadolinium puts one electron into a 5d orbital instead of a 4f, giving it slightly anomalous chemical and magnetic properties compared to its neighbors. Flip through the electron configuration diagrams on the right side of each page and you’ll notice a few other out-of-order cases like this.) Because the outer electron shell has the same configuration for each of the rare earths, their chemical properties are all similar. But magnetic properties follow an entirely different set of rules that involve all the electrons, not just the outer shell. So what they lack in chemical diversity, the rare earths make up for in imaginative magnetic properties...” — Page 163
“The metals from tungsten (74) through gold (79) are all very dense; indeed osmium (76) and iridium (77) are the densest of all elements. But tungsten is the cheapest by a factor of about a hundred, meaning it is used in many applications where it’s necessary to put a lot of weight in a small space, including counterweights, fishing sinkers, darts, ear weights for dogs (seriously), shot puts, and so on.” — Page 169
The very beginning of the book has lots of general information about how the elements are defined and how to interpret the periodic table. Here are the major groups of the periodic table, as defined at the start of the book by the arrangement of columns. The alkali metals are in the first column, alkali earth metals in the second, transition metals in the next ten columns, ordinary metals (including non-metals and metalloids) in the next two, followed by halogens and noble gases in the final two; rare earth metals typically fall below the periodic table, but they make up fifteen extra columns in the sixth and seventh rows.
Beautiful pictures throughout for each of the elements, with numerous examples of the element being used for just about every element (all except for the rarest and shortest lived ones). The author is an element collector and has collected physical samples for nearly all of the elements at his house/laboratory. Insane.
This is easily one of the best books I have read all year. I eventually want to buy this book so I can have a copy in my office! (and maybe also one at home)
••••
“The periodic table is the universal catalog of everything you can drop on your foot. There are some things, such as light, love, logic, and time, that are not in the periodic table. But you can’t drop any of those things on your foot…” — Page 5
“Chemistry is a bit like that: powerful enough to do great things in the world, but also dangerous enough to do terrible things just as easily. If you don’t respect it, chemistry bites.” — Page 7
“Stars shine because they are transmuting vast amounts of hydrogen into helium. Our sun alone consumes six hundred million tons of hydrogen per second, converting it into five hundred and ninety-six million tons of helium. Think about it: Six hundred million tons per second. Even at night. And where does the other four million tons per second go? It’s converted into energy according to Einstein’s famous formula, E = mc^2. About three-and-a-half-pounds-per-second’s worth finds its way to the earth, where it forms the light of the dawn rising, the warmth of a summer afternoon, and the red glow of a dying day…” — Page 15
“Helium is named for the Greek god of the sun, Helios, because the first hints of its existence were dark lines in the spectrum of sunlight that couldn’t explained by the presence of any elements known at the time. It might seem a paradox that an element common enough to fill party balloons with was the first element to be discovered in space. The reason is that helium is one of the noble gases, so named because they do not interact with the common riffraff of elements, remaining inert and aloof to nearly all chemical bonding. Because it does not interact, helium could not easily be detected by conventional wet chemical methods.” — Page 17
“Carbon is the most important element of life, period. Sure, there are many others without which life would not exist, but from the spiral backbone of DNA to the intricate rings and streamers of steroids and proteins, carbon is the element whose unique properties tie it all together. The very term ‘organic compound’ refers explicitly to chemicals containing carbon.” — Page 25
“If carbon is the foundation of life, then oxygen is the fuel. Oxygen’s ability to react with just about any organic compound is what drives the processes of life... (Actually, the term ‘fuel’ usually refers to the thing that is burned by an ‘oxidizer,’ so I’m speaking metaphorically when I say oxygen is the fuel of life. Technically speaking, oxygen is the oxidizer of life.)” — Page 29
“Fluorine is among the most reactive of all the elements. Blow a stream of fluorine gas at almost anything, and it will burst into flame. That includes things not normally thought of as flammable, such as glass. Interestingly, the more reactive an element is, the more stable are its compounds. When we say fluorine is highly reactive, we mean that a large amount of energy is released when it combines with other elements. The resulting compounds are very stable because the same large quantity of energy must be put back in if you want to tear them apart. This energy must be supplied by some yet-more-reactive substance, of which, in the case of fluorine, there are precious few.” — Page 31
“… Intriguingly, the writer Isaac Asimov speculated that the level of [potassium-40] radiation, which has been decreasing on a billion-year timescale since the formation of the earth, determined the window of opportunity for intelligent life to evolve. Too much [potassium-40] in the early earth prevented the formation or fragile long genomes; too little [potassium-40] later on would make the rate of mutation, and thus the rate of evolution, too slow to accomplish much. Pure speculation of course, but it is interesting to reflect on the idea that without radiation-induced mutation, we might not be here to speculate…” — Page 53
“… So important is iron as a metal that it’s easy to forget that many forms of life depend crucially on iron atoms, such as those trapped in the core of the protein hemoglobin and responsible for transporting oxygen in our blood. Iron is thus one of the most crucial of the minor constituents of the human body…” — Page 69
“When Dimitri Mendeleev in 1869 created his first systematic arrangements of the elements, which would eventually become the modern periodic table, he bravely left gaps where he thought as-yet-undiscovered elements must exist. Germanium, discovered nearly twenty years later with properties that matched Mendeleev’s predictions almost exactly, filled one of those holes and helped establish his periodic table as one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.” — Page 85
“Holmium achieves the pinnacle of aspirations for a rare earth element. All of them have some kind of interesting magnetic property, but holmium has the highest value for a particularly important one, the magnetic moment. What this means is that when holmium atoms line up with the field and concentrate it, bringing the magnetic lines of force closer together, thus raising the field’s local intensity. If you put a slug made of holmium — called a pole piece — at the end of a magnet, you get a stronger magnet. Holmium pole pieces are used in MRI machines, in which extremely intense magnetic fields line up the atoms in the body so their nuclear spins can cb e measured. These magnets are so strong that elaborate precautions are take. to make sure that no metal objects ever get near them…” — Page 155
“I wish I could explain in a few paragraphs how a laser works, I really do. But it takes a couple of years of calculus and a semester or two of physics to even ask the question properly. Once you get there, the answer is absolutely worth it, deep and beautiful and so real you can taste it. This and the many answers like it are among the main reasons to study higher mathematics. Math is the language in which the secrets of the universe are written, and through its understanding comes enlightenment. So do your homework, okay? It’s worth the journey.” — Page 161
“Chemistry is primarily the story of the outermost shell of electrons. Elements with the same number of electrons in that outermost shell tend to have similar chemical properties. This is, in fact, the fundamental principle that gives shape to the periodic table — elements within a given column have the same number of these ‘valence electrons.’ In most parts of the periodic table, when you move from one element to the next you are adding a new valence electron each time, giving each new element unique properties. But in the rare earth range, electrons are being added to an inner shell instead: Every one of the rare earths from 57 to 71 has a filled ‘6s’ outer electron shell, and differing numbers of the deep ‘4f’ shell, which contributes only minimally to chemical properties. (Nothing with chemistry is quite that simple, so for example gadolinium puts one electron into a 5d orbital instead of a 4f, giving it slightly anomalous chemical and magnetic properties compared to its neighbors. Flip through the electron configuration diagrams on the right side of each page and you’ll notice a few other out-of-order cases like this.) Because the outer electron shell has the same configuration for each of the rare earths, their chemical properties are all similar. But magnetic properties follow an entirely different set of rules that involve all the electrons, not just the outer shell. So what they lack in chemical diversity, the rare earths make up for in imaginative magnetic properties...” — Page 163
“The metals from tungsten (74) through gold (79) are all very dense; indeed osmium (76) and iridium (77) are the densest of all elements. But tungsten is the cheapest by a factor of about a hundred, meaning it is used in many applications where it’s necessary to put a lot of weight in a small space, including counterweights, fishing sinkers, darts, ear weights for dogs (seriously), shot puts, and so on.” — Page 169
Did Not Finish
October 4, 2023DNF at 59%
April 27, 2010
I am a tutor at a nationally recognized tutoring center. One of our brightest students brought this book in to work with as an enrichment product. I will freely admit that I am generally not an enormous fan of hard science, and was a bit hesitant when I was first faced with it. I'm a history major, and I chose the topic for my Marine Biology term paper based on the fact that Sea Otters are really cute. That's why I was quite surprised when I found this book fascinating. Its blend of valuable scientific information, humor, and history makes it eminently readable. The photography is beautiful and varied, and the layout is incredibly well configured.
Elements is accessible enough for my 10 year old student to enjoy it thoroughly, but deep enough that I have to fight the urge to read it in session. I will be buying a copy for myself and another for a good friend who is an astronomer at the Space Telescope Institute. I would heartily recommend this to anyone who wants to foster an interest in science, whether it be in their children or in themselves.
Elements is accessible enough for my 10 year old student to enjoy it thoroughly, but deep enough that I have to fight the urge to read it in session. I will be buying a copy for myself and another for a good friend who is an astronomer at the Space Telescope Institute. I would heartily recommend this to anyone who wants to foster an interest in science, whether it be in their children or in themselves.
March 31, 2017
Theodore Gray loves the elements. LOVES THEM. He reminds me of that one science teacher everyone has at some point. The science teacher that everyone loves. The one who does crazy experiments that endanger the lives of everyone in the classroom. Gray's humor, wit, and sheer enthusiasm for his subject will pull you right through this book. Things do slow down with the lanthanides, perhaps the most boring of elements (as even Gray acknowledges) but they pick back up right away. Reading this has given me a new appreciation for man's ability to find a use for just about anything, and (with the help of its many interesting photographs) has opened my eyes to the elements all around me.
November 18, 2017
This beautiful book should be in every science classroom (if not in every class). The poster should be on the wall and the web site should be bookmarked by every child. There is a brief description and history of every element. The photographs are wonderful. It takes a lot of reading, note-taking and effort to understand the elements. This book of trivia is the icing on the cake.
The web site: http://periodictable.com/
Gray's science column: http://periodictable.com/PopSci/index...
The web site: http://periodictable.com/
Gray's science column: http://periodictable.com/PopSci/index...
November 2, 2009
"Coffee Table" style book that's easy to pick up, hard to put down.
January 28, 2015
My son read this one and gives it a 5 star rating.
January 25, 2018
I had to read this for Chemistry.
June 20, 2021
This book is fantastic. My son has read it many times, and wants to start his own elements collection.
June 19, 2022
A better picture book than the Kim Kardashian one I'd say.
May 1, 2019
Great photos of the elements in the periodic table. Mr. Gray's collection itself is probably worth unimaginable quantities in knowledge, if we could put a price to that.
The text provides tidbits of knowledge about the elements, several stories of which could be followed up in more detailed expositions (such as the ones about ships and sunken treasures).
The text provides tidbits of knowledge about the elements, several stories of which could be followed up in more detailed expositions (such as the ones about ships and sunken treasures).
December 29, 2021
Õppisin väga palju sellest raamatust. Soovitan
January 21, 2022
More for the hobbyist, but as someone who teaches chemistry, I quite enjoyed it.
May 21, 2020
This book is like a dictionary for the elements with gorgeous pictures to boot. what's not to love about this.
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