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Original Title:	The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
ISBN:	0316051640 (ISBN13: 9780316051644)
Edition Language:	English
Literary Awards:	Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for History and Biography (2010)

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Sam Kean

Hardcover | Pages: 394 pages

Rating: 3.91 | 38836 Users | 3634 Reviews

Identify Out Of Books The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Title	:	The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
Author	:	Sam Kean
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 394 pages
Published	:	July 12th 2010 by Little, Brown and Company
Categories	:	Science. Nonfiction. History. Chemistry

Chronicle Toward Books The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it's also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery and alchemy, from the big bang through to the end of time.

Rating Out Of Books The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Ratings: 3.91 From 38836 Users | 3634 Reviews

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I'm going to start out saying that Lisa wrote a great review of this book. As a book, this book is absolutely wonderful. It makes chemistry and physics comprehensible and fun. I listened to it in audio and thought the narrator did a fantastic job with it. He actually made the jokes sound funny. He knew what tone the author was striving for and he hit it spot-on. However, I think I ended up missing a lot by listening rather than reading. The book is so packed full of fun facts and numbers and, of

This does for the periodic table what I am always trying to do for math....link the science to the historical events, the people, and the economics that push scientific discoveries. I was fascinated by the many details about the hunt for elements, the private lives of the Curies, the radioactive boy scout, the dangers of storing rare elements in the Congo, and that the same man who invented nitrogen rich fertilizers, is also the inventor of zyklon B. It also made me want to read more about The

This book is quite an entertaining read. It is packed with interesting anecdotes about scientists who explored the outer fringes of the periodic table. I even learned a little bit of chemistry. The book is organized in an intelligent manner--each chapter is devoted to some theme, with a small group of elements that fit into that theme in some way. Sometimes the author strays from the exploration of elements, but he always seems to relate to the chapter's theme. The only thing that puts me off a

In a breezy style, Kean intersperses chemistry and physics with a potpourri of stories revolving around the elements. He explains how the elements formed and how they were discovered. He blends complex science and human interest in his examples of how the elements have been used and influenced history. Kean transitions quickly from deep discussions of atomic structure or quantum mechanics to oddities such as the nutcase who turned blue eating silver because he thought there would be no

This is on the banned book list - why!? Oh that's right. Certain parents think that science is too "real" for their precious babies. What a lot of baloney! The Disappearing Spoon is, quite literally, one of the most fascinating, informative, FUNNY, books about the Periodic Table that I've ever read. Okay, it is the only book about the Periodic Table that I've ever read - but it is amazing. For those who love science or for those who simply would like to better under the elements that make the

My GR friend Jason writes sturdy and trustworthy reviews, but I must take exception with him here :The Disappearing Spoon is quick, light reading out in the sun. It handles complex theory in a comfortable, approachable way.Yes, it is all that, IF such stuff as this makes sense to you :The strongest solo acid is still the boron-based carborane (HCB11C111) And this boron acid has the best punchline so far : it's simultaneously the world's strongest and gentlest acid. To wrap your head around that,

This is a rare specimen among the books I tend to read: a two-bookmark book. I was skeptical when this first came to my attention. I grew up reading any and every science-related book I could find. My early fascination with books about science -- particularly chemistry and physics -- led, many years later, to my day job career. (I also blame Dr. Who for this, but that's a longer story.) But it was a long road, and not surprisingly along the way I lost my enthusiasm for reading books about