Periodic Tales

Science writing at its best … fascinating and beautiful … if only chemistry had been like this at school … to meander through the periodic table with him … is like going round a zoo with Gerald Durrell … a rich compilation of delicious tales, but it offers greater rewards, too – Matt RidleyImmensely engaging and continually makes one sit up in ­surprise * Sunday Times *Splendid … enjoyable and polished * Observer *Full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well … an agreeable jumble of anecdote, reflection and information * Sunday Telegraph *Great fun to read and an endless fund of unlikely and improbable anecdotes … sharp and often witty * Financial Times *A joyous romp through the chemical elements * Today, BBC Radio 4 *Not only a cultural history of the elements, it is also a lament to the loss of science as a hobby * Economist *A flashily brainy book, crammed with literary references and held together by a personal quest to collect as many elements as possible * Telegraph *‘Elements are fun’ is the essential premise of Hugh Aldersey-Williams’s new book and by heck he’s right … Aldersey-Williams mourns the fact chemistry isn’t really sexy any more; Periodic Tales is a step towards it getting its mojo back * Metro **** *Imaginative and fun … almost every page yields a nugget * Nature *

Hugh Aldersey-Williams studied natural sciences at Cambridge. He is the author of several books exploring science, design and architecture - including Periodic Tales, Anatomies and The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century - and has curated exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wellcome Collection. He lives in Norfolk with his wife and son.

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