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One of the grandest rewards of the scientific perspective is that it allows us to view the familiar world in fresh and unfamiliar ways. . . . The Elements breaks physical reality down into its smallest cohesive parts, as have many other books about the periodic table. What is unusual here is the way this book builds the story back up. Ball, who originally trained as a chemist, plunges deep into the history of the elements, dividing it into eight eras, each defined by distinctive notions of what it means for a substance to be fundamental. . . . Today, the periodic table is still expanding, as researchers synthesize heavier and heavier atomic nuclei. But even the well-known elements remain in flux, changing with each shift in our scientific thinking. The book's illustrations, meticulously researched and artfully presented, drive home the point. A gold-platinum mask, forged by an unknown pre-Columbian artist some 2,500 years ago, demonstrates an advanced understanding of alloys, but it stares out of the page with an almost alien visage. * American Scientist * In this fascinating visual history of the elements, Ball spans over 3,000 years of scientific discovery from the classical era of Plato to the present day. Each element and story behind their discovery has been told in detail with the use of engaging images including scientific firsts in photography, as well as interesting artifacts and some beautiful historical drawings. More than this, the book is virtually a history of scientific discovery itself. * BBC Science Focus * Using some two hundred images, Ball describes how we discovered the building blocks of the universe-including some fake elements like phlogiston. * Milwaukee Journal Sentinel * Ball has once again produced a terrific book, one that presents a tremendous amount of the history of chemistry in a manner that is engagingly written, beautifully illustrated, and conscientious about avoiding the usual traps of popular science: triumphalism, a Eurocentric and male bias, and a reliance on just-so stories that are inadequately supported by the evidence. I cannot think of another popular history of chemistry I have so enjoyed reading. -- Michael D. Gordin, author of On the Fringe: Where Science Meets Pseudoscience This attractive, copiously illustrated book lays out the history of the discovery of the elements beginning with the insights of the classical Greeks and working forward to the most recent discoveries of superheavy elements. . . . Every page is filled with relevant quotes from literature and science as well as large, detailed illustrations. . . . The volume concludes with meticulous documentation of sources for quoted material and the usual list of further reading, illustration credits, and the like. . . . A very pleasant book to read and handle. . . . Recommended. * Choice *

Ball has once again produced a terrific book, one that presents a tremendous amount of the history of chemistry in a manner that is engagingly written, beautifully illustrated, and conscientious about avoiding the usual traps of popular science: triumphalism, a Eurocentric and male bias, and a reliance on just-so stories that are inadequately supported by the evidence. I cannot think of another popular history of chemistry I have so enjoyed reading. --Michael D. Gordin, author of On the Fringe: Where Science Meets Pseudoscience

Author Information

Philip Ball is a freelance writer and broadcaster whose many books on the interactions of the sciences, the arts, and the wider culture include Bright Earth: The Invention of Color, Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything, Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does, How to Grow a Human: Adventures in How We Are Made and Who We Are, and, most recently, The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination, all also published by the University of Chicago Press. He lives in London.

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