{"id":2471,"date":"2011-08-06T18:12:52","date_gmt":"2011-08-06T22:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=2471"},"modified":"2021-06-04T12:48:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:48:33","slug":"the-disappearing-spoon-and-other-true-tales-of-madness-love-and-the-history-of-the-world-from-the-periodic-table-of-the-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2471","title":{"rendered":"The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements<\/a><\/em> (2010) Sam Kean<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This was a fun book.<\/p>\n

Although I was initially a little unsure, once we got to the part where he explained the big bang and it completely made sense<\/em> (at least in relation to what he was discussing) I was sold.<\/p>\n

He discusses the periodic table, then men who developed it as a table, the elements that comprise it, and the men and women who searched for and found those elements.<\/p>\n

Fascinating. Really! Primarily because he approaches the subject with humor and a light-hearted tone, making what might have been a dry subject for some in school (not me–I had a fabulous science teacher in high school) interesting and amusing.<\/p>\n

Here are some excerpts I especially enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Because Physics overlaps with weapons research, Stalin’s pet…physicists under Stalin escaped the worked abuses leveled at biologists, psychologists, and economists. “Leave [physicists] in peace,” Stalin graciously allowed. “We can always shoot them later.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Think of the most fussy science teacher you ever had. The one who docked your grade if the sixth decimal place in your answer was rounded incorrectly; who tucked in his periodic table T-shirt, corrected every student who said “weight” when he or she meant “mass,” and made everyone, including himself, wear goggles even while mixing sugar water. Now try imagining someone whom your teacher would late for being anal-retentive. That is the kind of person who works for a bureau of standards and measurement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As we know, 90 percent of particles in the universe are hydrogen, and the other 10 percent are helium. Everything else, including six million billion billion kilos of earth, is a cosmic rounding error.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Quantium mechanics] prompted [Einstein] to object that “God does not play dice with the universe.” He was wrong, and it’s too bad that most people have never heard the rejoinder by Neils Bohr: “Einstein! Stop telling God what to do.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even if you don’t think you’d be fascinated by learning about aluminum (did you know the top of the Washington Monument is aluminum? Because it was the most precious metal around at the time?) and carbon and arsenic–you’re wrong. It’s all fascinating, and all well-worth reading.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Back Bay Books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (2010) Sam Kean This was a fun book. Although I was initially a little unsure, once we got to the part where he explained the big bang and it completely made sense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,4,291,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-non-fiction","category-paper","category-science-nature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-DR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":482,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/482","url_meta":{"origin":2471,"position":0},"title":"The Secret History of Moscow","author":"Michelle","date":"December 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Secret History of Moscow (2007) Ekaterina Sedia I both enjoyed this book and found it frustrating. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, which drew heavily upon Russian folklore. However, at times the writing bothered me. Some of the descriptive prose was phrased in ways that took me a moment to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8869,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8869","url_meta":{"origin":2471,"position":1},"title":"What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions","author":"Michelle","date":"March 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014) Randall Munroe I adore xkcd. It's often funny, sometimes enthralling, and almost always makes you think. So when Randall Munroe wrote a book based upon his What If answers, I snatched it up. Because: Randall Munroe. But I bought the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/what-if.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6272,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6272","url_meta":{"origin":2471,"position":2},"title":"Sailing to Sarantium","author":"Michelle","date":"December 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sailing to Sarantium (1998) Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay is an incredible writer. He doesn't wrote epic fantasy in the sense of swords and sorcerey--in fact there is often no magic in his stories. He instead researches a subject an a time period and grounds his story in those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Sailing-to-Sarantium.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5391,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5391","url_meta":{"origin":2471,"position":3},"title":"Fables Vol. 22: Farewell","author":"Michelle","date":"August 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Fables Vol. 22: Farewell (2015) This one has only been sitting on my coffee table for a month, waiting for a day when I could read through the last two volumes in one sitting. I think it'll take me awhile--and probably a re-read of the entire series--to decide how I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Fables-Farewell.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1591,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1591","url_meta":{"origin":2471,"position":4},"title":"The Mermaid’s Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mermaid's Madness (2009) Jim C. Hines I thoroughly enjoyed The Stepsister Scheme, and so was looking forward to reading The Mermaid's Madness. Snow (Snow White) and Talia (Sleeping Beauty) are again helping Danielle (Cinderella), this time to deal with a mermaid who has gone mad (hence the title). 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