THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS

An illustrator leads a tour through the periodic table.

Hip artwork and a funky display type give coffee-table appeal to this large but relatively lightweight “encyclopedia.” Colorful sections introduce each element along with its category, its year of discovery according to Western science, the scientist credited, and (usually) a “fun fact.” Additional sections, evidently sprinkled in to break up the parade of facts about the individual elements, include explorations of “endangered elements,” stinky elements, “CSI elements,” “the deadliest elements,” and elements in the human body as well as minibiographies of periodic table originator Dmitri Mendeleev, the Curies, many other notable chemists, and famed element collector Oliver Sacks. Text is friendly and illustrations, accessible; this might well prove an enticing introduction for budding researchers. There is neither a bibliography nor a credited expert reviewer, however; that might explain the erroneous proclamation that “every cubic mile of…of seawater” contains “37 pounds…of gold” or the incorrect diagram that shows gamma rays passing unhindered through a thick wall of concrete. It’s less egregious that the text equates atomic mass and atomic weight or that the ancient Greek elemental symbols shown aren’t exactly correct. The text breezes through spectrum and capacitor without defining them for the glossary—which, oddly, also includes acid but not base. Opening a gatefold on the front endpaper reveals a periodic table plus key.

Stylish and superficially informational.