127
Followers
155
Following
Bettie's Books
A Stuga On the Cusp of the Orust Riviera, tucked away next to a hobbit hole in the woods.
Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements
bookshelves: nonfiction, published-2011, sciences, winter-20102011, flufferoonies, essays
Read from January 29 to February 04, 2011
** spoiler alert ** More whimsical than weighty; philosophic rather than physic. It would sit well as a staple introduction to those universalism courses they offer at night classes.
Enjoyable.
blurb - Everything is made from them: the elements are the universal and fundamental ingredients of all matter. But beyond the laboratory, released from the periodic table in which Dmitiri Mendeleev organised them according to the number of protons in their atoms, they reveal other meanings and tell other stories. Hugh Aldersey-Williams explores 'the curious lives of the elements' through history, literature, science and art.
Mankind has always sought to venerate the rare and the precious, as well as being drawn magpie-like to that which is bright and shiny. First it was gold and then it was platinum.
Reader : Michael Maloney
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Enjoyable.
blurb - Everything is made from them: the elements are the universal and fundamental ingredients of all matter. But beyond the laboratory, released from the periodic table in which Dmitiri Mendeleev organised them according to the number of protons in their atoms, they reveal other meanings and tell other stories. Hugh Aldersey-Williams explores 'the curious lives of the elements' through history, literature, science and art.
Mankind has always sought to venerate the rare and the precious, as well as being drawn magpie-like to that which is bright and shiny. First it was gold and then it was platinum.
Reader : Michael Maloney
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
1 - Hugh Aldersey-Williams explores the curious lives of the elements through history."
2 - Chlorine, fluorine, and iodine all play medicinal roles, but Agatha Christie turned to another element as an instrument of murder.
3 - Elements have brought colour and drama to our lives - from the bold pigments of art to the dramatic explosions of fireworks."
4 - Further adventures amongst the building blocks of the universe including the iconic whiteness of calcium which takes us from bones to buildings.
5 - Hugh Aldersey-Williams concludes his examination of what lies beyond the Periodic table with a look at elemental discoveries and element tourism
1