Product Description

In this book, Paul Strathern, the award-winning novelist and expositor of complex ideas, unravels the dramatic history of chemistry through the quest for the elements. Framing this history is the life-story of the 19th century Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev, who fell asleep at this desk and awoke after dreaming of the Periodic Table - the template upon which modern chemistry is founded, and the formulation of which marked chemistry's coming of age as a science. From ancient philosophy, through medieval alchemy to the splitting of the atom, this is the true story of the birth of chemistry and the role of one man's dream.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #325829 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
On a wintry February day in 1869 the great Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev fell asleep at his desk after a marathon game of patience. When he woke, he looked at the delicately logical arrangement of the cards and saw the solution to a problem that had been vexing him for years: how to tabulate all the known different chemicals in a rational, coherent and meaningful way.

But how did he get there, intellectually? Was he just a dwarf standing on the shoulder of giants? Or uniquely gifted? On the basis of the facts and anecdotes Strathern skilfully weaves together here, the whole historical drama of chemical science, from the Four Elements of the Greeks, through the gold-hunting alchemy of the Arabs, to the near-misses (Phlogiston) of the Enlightenment, had been a kind of narrative prologue, building up to that seminal February day in Moscow and Mendeleyev's discovery of the Periodic Table.

Strathern's style is polished, lucid and easy-going. It is also extremely well matched to the fascinating story adduced in this absorbing and enlightening book.--Sean Thomas

About the Author
Paul Strathern studied physics, chemistry and maths at Trinity College, Dublin, before switching to philosophy. He is author of several novels, including A Season in Abyssinia, which won the Somerset Maugham prize, and two successful series - Philosophy in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World.

Customer Reviews

Elementary Elements
The title is slightly misleading, as the book is mostly about alchemy, philosophers and other discoverers of elements and chemical principles. But what a super book - it begins and ends with Mendeleyev, yet in between we are treated to a complete history of the groundwork that went into the discovery and classification of the elements. We meet many famous names, some not-so-famous and a few unsung tyros, along with their discoveries and what led up to them. Many of the discoveries were accidental, others through hard work and the rest by following scientific principles.

All of this is far from dull; the author has an undercurrent of subtle humour running through the whole book, making one break out into a wry smile every now and then. The key players in this 'dream' are the names that we remember from school, but have forgotten who they were, what they did and why ... this reminds us and fills in a lot of blanks, as well as fleshing out the characters - why they were like that and how they became drawn ino the field of alchemy/chemistry - some for mercenary gain, others for more esoteric reasons. We also hear other names not normally associated with Science - Borodin (music), Francis Bacon (plays), Lucretius (poetry) and many more.

I shall read more of this author's works, if they are in the same vein as this - a thoroughly absorbing and gratifying read!

A popular account of chemistry, finally.
This is a nice book about not so popular a subject.
To many people, chemistry classes are not the fondest of memories. Some people (like me) have had to endure the gruesome experience of rote learning Mendeleyev's table, and I have had to pass chemistry exams without the table (but needing its information, so I had to know it).
Nevertheless, this book proves that reading about the history of chemistry need not be as gruesome as learning Mendeleyev's table; on the contrary, when it is well told, it is fun. Although little time is spent on Mendeleyev himself (I would actually have liked to learn a little bit more about the man), this book beautifully traces the history of chemistry, from the ancient Greeks, over the alchemists, to early-twentiest century chemistry. It stops at the turn of the century, so it unfortunately lacks information about the fate of chemistry during the twentiest century (which has cost it a star in my rating): nothing is said about the fusion of chemistry with quantum physics for instance, which explains Mendeleyev's table on a deeper fundamental level; neither does one learn about what contemporary chemistry is about.

Nevertheless, this book is easy and fun to read, and should do excellently for a lost afternoon under the cover of a palm tree, or a quiet evening by the fire.

Brilliantly written, perceptive and often funny
Following the success of the recent spate of books based on historical accounts of scientific discovery such as Dava Sobels Longitude and Simon Singhs Fermats Last Theorem, Mendeleyev's Dream could be seen as jumping on the bandwagon of books popularising science and doing for chemistry what Simon Singhs book did for Mathematics. The big difference, however is that the scope of this book is far greater than either of the two books mentioned above. It is a brilliantly written and fascinating account of not just the quest for the elements (as it is subtitled) but nothing less than an account of the human race struggling to understand the world we live in and what it all is, and as such delves into philosophy and physics as much as chemistry. And what a fascinating and at times bloody story it all is! Paul Strathern writes fluidly and lucidly and with a sprinkling of humorous comment about the often absurd theories and beliefs and sometimes brilliantly perceptive flashes of insight which have occurred throughout history. Constantly throughout the book Strathern explains the origin of words and terms we now take for granted. All in all, a fascinating story which would seem absurdly impossible if it wasn't true! This is one of those rare books which is both highly instructive and hugely entertaining.