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Periodic Tales
- The Curious Lives of the Elements
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
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Periodic Tales
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Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, read by John Sackville.
Everything in the universe is made of them, including you.
Like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning.
Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table.
Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colourful pasts, Periodic Tales is a voyage of wonder and discovery, showing that their stories are our stories, and their lives are inextricable from our own.
Critic reviews
"Science writing at its best. A fascinating and beautiful literary anthology, bringing them to life as personalities. If only chemistry had been like this at school. A rich compilation of delicious tales." (Matt Ridley, Prospect)
"A love letter to the chemical elements. Aldersey-Williams is full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well." (Sunday Telegraph)
"Great fun to read and an endless fund of unlikely and improbable anecdotes." (Financial Times)
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What listeners say about Periodic Tales
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 19-01-19
Great
Great book, worth a listen. Such Interesting subject matter and well sectioned. Five star no question
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr Andrew Smith
- 27-03-24
Thoroughly enjoyed!
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, really interesting and informative without being dry, boring or over technical.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Dr
- 21-01-20
For Chemistry geeks
Think you know everything about the elements? Think again, as you are taken on a journey through the periodic table. The author goes through the chemistry of Fireworks, Poisons and doesn't shy away from looking for the elements in the the most unusual places such as his own urine (not kidding)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- abbeyroad
- 04-09-19
Captivating and useful
Book is very interesting, I liked to listen to it while driving in the car.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 28-09-21
wonderful
I have never re read a book in my life until now, wonderfully written so fluidly, very listenable narrator too,
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- mat brown
- 03-09-18
Fantastically informative
Blimey I wasn’t hoping for much but was utterly surprised how entrancing this was
The subject matter was compelling and the narrator engaging
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- js-sj
- 11-09-19
More of a story than science, but interesting
M own fault for not reading about this book properly, but it was much more of a story/history than I expected - a fact made clear right from the start of the book by the author.
I still enjoyed the tales. Wasn't what I expected, but learned a lot about science history and still some interesting chemistry notes thrown in.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Xian
- 28-05-20
Something different
Interesting book that makes you appreciate how we have taken the elements for granted. A few too many dates and names for me and could have benefitted from more examples of practical everyday uses. Nonetheless I would recommend to others that are interested in science.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Duncerman
- 05-12-22
A great series of tangential elemental stories.
This is a beautifully written and read book. The writer's love and fascination for chemistry comes through throughout. Its appeal to me was that it's focus is not just elemental facts and dates but on the more human side of discovery, ingenuity and use.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- T1bs
- 03-02-20
Not what I expected
Maybe It's just that I listened to it right after a Bill Bryson book, but I found the storytelling a bit clumsy. It reminds me of writing an essay and getting to a point where you dont have much value to add but you feel like you have to use the available word count. It's an endless festival of getting sidetracked not actually talking about the elements but anything that can vaguely linked to them. To give an example, mentioning that sulfur appears in the Bible several times and giving a couple of examples is fine. Meticulously citing every place where sulfur appears in the Bible made my eyes rolling and my brain sighting 'to the point for f*cks sake not another pointless story rabbit hole'. But again, maybe it's just me putting the bar too high. I also want to emphasise that I did not finish the book, I formed this opinion after about 3 hours into it. Sadly I wont finish it.
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2 people found this helpful