Rating: 4/5
Review:
Enjoyable and interesting
I very much enjoyed this book. The beginning wasn't great, what with the statement on page 6 that the elements came into being a few moments after the big bang (they didn't - they began to be formed a long time later) and then a lengthy and slightly clunky section on gold, but it got better very quickly. Each element is treated in an eclectic and quirky section which may deal with its origins, its importance in human history, its odd properties, its influence in literature and so on, including a lot of amusing and interesting anecdotes.
Badly done, this could be dreadful, but Hugh Aldersey-Williams handles it very well and the whole is highly entertaining and very informative. He is extremely erudite, he makes very wide-ranging and shrewd choices about what to include and above all is genuinely hugely enthusiastic about his subject. He also writes very well and I found myself keen to get back and read more, which is by no means always the case for me with this sort of book. It's an excellent read and I recommend it very warmly.
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