The Disappearing Spoon, (Hardcover)

from tahoegirl

One of the best non-fiction books I've read, and definitely the best chemistry book! I'm a science nerd and I learned so much about how and who discovered many of the elements. One thing I really liked it that it wasn't too technical so people not that into science would enjoy it too.

from auntmarge64

A loose history of the ongoing discovery of the elements and what it means to our understanding of the universe and our place in it. The first couple of chapters are somewhat technical but meant for the layperson, with additional science mixed in as the book goes on so the reader can understand h...

from Dorritt

Cleverly, Kean starts off gently, drawing us in with an elaborate explanation of the basic atomic theory we all learned in high school and making us feel smug. This is followed by a dozen or so chapters stuffed with fascinating, accessible anecdotes about the elements on our periodic table: their...

from BlackSheepDances

I have to confess I didn't pay much attention to chemistry. Once the instructor talked about electrons, protons, atoms and the nucleus I usually turned on my Walkman (the cassette kind, now antique!). It never seemed interesting because it wasn't something that related at all to real life. If I h...

from hcubic

Sam Kean is not a chemist, and he seems to have had little help from a chemistry-literate editor in writing this collection of stories about most of the elements of the periodic table. To a certain extent, his chatty and colloquial style helps to bring chemistry to an audience that is science-pho...