Basic Books The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey Into The Land Of The Chemical Elements

This book was assigned as a summer project for my honors chemistry class, so I obviously had low expectations for it. I was pleasantly surprised. The book was actually quite enjoyable to read which, in turn, helped greatly in understanding periodicity. The title makes the book sound lame, but the author conveys a great and abstract knowledge of the periodic table through a metaphor - without making the reader feel like a small child. Albeit, I may be biased by my fondness for creative vocabulary which this book contains in abundance, so do not be surprised if it has you reaching for the dictionary a few times. All in all, this book is only among a few educational books I am not ashamed to recommend to people: I see that as a definition for success.

Excellent Service, Excellent Product.

Quality and arrived in time

This is a really interesting look at the *system* of the elements, more than just a bestiary of elements (nothing wrong with that, but this is a different book). The relationships and overarching structure are the subject of "The Periodic Kingdom". To make the points clear, the author describes the table as a landscape, a geography. There are quite helpful graphics in Periodic Kingdom, mostly 3d charts with x and y being the familiar Periodic Table and the height showing size or ionization energy, or mass or density or some other physical property of an element. The 3d Periodic Tables are shown from different angles to make the points clear. Useful stuff- the size of an atom, (the "diameter" around the 99% probability surface of the electron orbitals) increases as you go down the rows of the table, but also rises at the midpoint, near where the Transition Metals meet what this author calls the Eastern Island- adding electrons to the shells generally increases size but adding protons to the nucleus pulls in the orbitals. Those in the right hand side of the Transition Metals in each row are larger than the Alkali Metals as the left-most edge of their row AND larger than the Noble Gasses on the right-most edge. Surprise- Uranium is not the largest. Too many protons in the nucleus. The writing is good enough to read out loud, and the thinking is clear. Anyone coming to the subject from a chemistry, physics or general science background will learn something and have a good time doing it.

Really enjoyed this one. Atkins spends the opening chapters depicting the periodic table as a 'kingdom', its landscape of peaks and slopes varying according to which attribute one chooses to focus on: atomic diameter, atomic weight, etc. Illustrated as simple 3D bar-charts, this metaphor is surprisingly effective in revealing the underlying rhythms of the table. Later chapters elucidate a little of the history and nomenclature of the elements, and discuss the merits of the different ways of depicting their relationships (there's more than one periodic table). Then the real meat of the book kicks in: Atkins dips into quantum physics to explain the different forms of electron orbitals and shows how the gradual filling of these slots leads to the periods of the table. This is dealt with in much more satisfying detail than when I was at school. How all this makes possible ionic and covalent bonds, and the consequent properties of materials arising from them, forms the conclusion of the book. I like Atkins' crisp prose, lean and pointed: "In the photosynthetic process, the wellspring of usable energy on Earth, it is manganese that deploys the electrons that the Sun's energy releases and that will eventually drive the formulation of our opinions and the execution of our actions." This neat little tour of chemistry is completed by a Further Reading list, an extensive index, and of course a periodic table.