The Disappearing Spoon

And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

By: Sam Kean

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

“The Disappearing Spoon is my favorite kind of science journalism: it reveals a hidden universe in the form of a thrilling tale.” (BoingBoing)

“Arthur C. Clarke once noted that truly advanced science cannot be distinguished from magic. Kean succeeds in giving us the cold hard facts, both human and chemical, behind the astounding phenomena without sacrificing any of the wonder — a trait vital to any science writer worth his NaCl." (Entertainment Weekly)

Science Magazine reporter Sam Kean reveals the periodic table as it’s never been seen before. Not only is it one of man's crowning scientific achievements, it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.

We learn that Marie Curie used to provoke jealousy in colleagues' wives when she'd invite them into closets to see her glow-in-the-dark experiments. And that Lewis and Clark swallowed mercury capsules across the country; their campsites are still detectable by the poison in the ground. Why did Gandhi hate iodine? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium? And why did tellurium lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? From the Big Bang to the end of time, it's all in The Disappearing Spoon.

©2010 Sam Kean (P)2010 Tantor

Great stories about the history

the author provides a historical lens to how we got here and where we might progress too.

Great Book, Great Narration, But...

"The Disappearing Spoon" does what many might think impossible. It makes chemistry (and physics) sound fun and exciting, not just a drab exploration of covalent bonds and nuclear half-life. Sam Kean explores each of the elements on the periodic table by telling about their weird and wacky properties, tells us stories about them, and tells us even more stories about the people who discovered them. He does it all with a great sense of humor. Would you ever expect to run across the word "bitchin" in a book about chemistry???

Sam Runnette does a fabulous job or narration. His style is very conversational and he know which parts of the book are funny rather than serious and emphasizes that. I will be looking for more of his narrations.

Now for the "but". I kind of wish I had read this book in print. It is so jam-packed with detail and has so many anecdotes that I found that I really missed stuff if my attention wandered for even a minute. I did so much rewinding that I probably added 1/3 to the length of the book. I think I could have focused better in print.

A Home Run

I strongly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in science. Engaging, interesting, fun, and well read. Another review referred to James Burke and that is exactly what I thought of listening to this book. A real treat.

If you like science and fiction...

If you like stories about science, specifically centered on elements of the periodic table, you will love this book. They are not science stories, but great stories related to science. Along the way you will get a little science, but not so much. It's mostly about great stories, like why you can track the Lewis & Clark expedition by the mercury laxatives they took, why spoons were made from gallium, why Fleishman and Ponds, why they put bismuth in pepto, and on and on. The stories are only related by their chemical connection, but it all hangs together in a terrific collection performed excellently. Five stars for the stories, four for the performance. Very entertaining.

Quick! How many elements can you name?

I had long been curious about all those other elements beyond the 20 or so the average person can name, but I had never realized how important a role the period table itself had played in helping them all to be discovered. This book tells that story. But it goes much further than that. This is a collection of so many cool stories about the discovery of the elements, the people who discovered them, and the uses to which some of these elements have been put. War, poison, jealousy, rivalries, friendships, love affairs and many other factors come into play here. This is a very human story of the lurching story of scientific progress. Highly recommended.

I just fell in love with science

If history, or science, or psychology, or sociology, or political science, or economics are of any interest to you, you must read this book. I had no idea the history of scientific discoveries is so captivating. This author, Sam Kean, looks at both the history and the science of the discovery, function, and use of the periodic table. He clearly and insightfully explains scientific concepts that I never was able to see are really easy to grasp. This book is freaking awesome and I hardly even made it through high school chemistry! It turns out that all those serious scientific minds of history who developed the periodic table and experimented with it were all rather crazy and intensely interesting.

Thoroughly enjoyable and educational

Chemistry was the class I least liked in high-school. I hated all those chemical equations. I never understood the periodic table either.
And yet, I found this book to be a fascinating tell of how how we developed a better understanding of the atoms and quantum physics that make our universe work. I would have never thought a chemistry book would make me sit in the parking lot after I got to work, wanting to spend a few more minutes in the car listening to this book.
If you are intellectually curious, and if you love science, by all means get this book.

Informative but rather dry.

This was a well researched book but I found many sections were hard to understand and my mind often wandered during some parts of the presentation. I enjoyed the Bill Bryson Book " A Short History of Nearly Everything" much much more. It covered many of the same topics in a much more entertaining style.

Good but needs a little more

I enjoyed this tome but felt that there could have been more background on the "scandals" promised in the title. The reader was enjoyable to listen to and the history behind the formation of the periodic table was rather fascinating. I would have liked to hear a bit more dirt, however. Worth a listen, for sure

captivating

I'm a chemistry major and was looking for a fun book to read on the side and this was a perfect supplement to my education. It is full of interesting stories and facts about some of the more fascinating elements on the periodic table. It also incorporates topics of biology, physics, mathematics, and more.