Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Periodic tales : a cultural history of the elements, from arsenic to zinc / Hugh Aldersey-Williams.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : Ecco, 2011.Edition: 1st edDescription: xvii, 428 p. : ill. ; 22 cmISBN:
  • 0061824720 (hardback : acidfree paper)
  • 9780061824722 (hardback : acid-free paper)
Subject(s):
Contents:
Power. El Dorado ; Going platinum ; Noble metals, ignobly announced ; The ochreous stain ; The element traders ; Among the Carbonari ; Plutonium charades ; Mendeleev's suitcases ; The liquid mirror -- Fire. The circumnavigation of the Sulphur ; Pee is for phosphorus ; 'As under a green sea' ; 'Humanitarian nonsense' ; Slow fire ; Our Lady of Radium ; Nightglow of Dystopia ; Cocktails at the Pale Horse ; The light of the sun -- Craft. To the Cassiterides ; Dull lead's grey truth ; Our perfect reflection ; The worldwide web ; Au zinc ; Banalization ; 'Turn'd to barnacles' ; The Guild of Aerospace Welders ; The March of the Elements -- Beauty. Chromatic revolution ; 'Lonely-chrome America' ; Abbé Suger's sheet sapphire ; Inheritance powder ; Rainbows in the blood ; Crushing emeralds ; The crimson light of neon ; Jezebel's eyes -- Earth. Swedish rock ; Europium Union ; Auerlight ; Gadolin and Samarsky, everymen of the elements ; Ytterby Gruva.
Summary: "In the spirit of A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, an energetic and wide-ranging book of discovery and discoverers, of exploitation and celebration, and of superstition and science, all in search of the ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language"-- Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 546.8 A362 Checked out 06/20/2024 33111006547182
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 546.8 A362 Available 33111006769224
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Like the alphabet, the calendar, or the zodiac, the periodic table of the chemical elements has a permanent place in our imagination. But aside from the handful of common ones (iron, carbon, copper, gold), the elements themselves remain wrapped in mystery. We do not know what most of them look like, how they exist in nature, how they got their names, or of what use they are to us. Welcome to a dazzling tour through history and literature, science and art. In Periodic Tales, you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and neon as it lights its way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future and why zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the White House in Washington, the glow of a streetlight with the salt on your dinner table.

From ancient civilizations to contemporary couture, from the oxygen of publicity to the phosphorous in your pee, the elements are near and far and all around us. Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colorful pasts, Periodic Tales is a passionate journey through mines and artists' studios, to factories and cathedrals, into the woods and to the sea to discover the true stories of these fascinating but mysterious building blocks of the universe.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Power. El Dorado ; Going platinum ; Noble metals, ignobly announced ; The ochreous stain ; The element traders ; Among the Carbonari ; Plutonium charades ; Mendeleev's suitcases ; The liquid mirror -- Fire. The circumnavigation of the Sulphur ; Pee is for phosphorus ; 'As under a green sea' ; 'Humanitarian nonsense' ; Slow fire ; Our Lady of Radium ; Nightglow of Dystopia ; Cocktails at the Pale Horse ; The light of the sun -- Craft. To the Cassiterides ; Dull lead's grey truth ; Our perfect reflection ; The worldwide web ; Au zinc ; Banalization ; 'Turn'd to barnacles' ; The Guild of Aerospace Welders ; The March of the Elements -- Beauty. Chromatic revolution ; 'Lonely-chrome America' ; Abbé Suger's sheet sapphire ; Inheritance powder ; Rainbows in the blood ; Crushing emeralds ; The crimson light of neon ; Jezebel's eyes -- Earth. Swedish rock ; Europium Union ; Auerlight ; Gadolin and Samarsky, everymen of the elements ; Ytterby Gruva.

"In the spirit of A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, an energetic and wide-ranging book of discovery and discoverers, of exploitation and celebration, and of superstition and science, all in search of the ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language"-- Provided by publisher.

Powered by Koha