The Periodic Table

By: Primo Levi

Narrated by: Neville Jason

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi is an impassioned response to the Holocaust: Consisting of 21 short stories, each possessing the name of a chemical element, the collection tells of the author's experiences as a Jewish-Italian chemist before, during, and after Auschwitz in luminous, clear, and unfailingly beautiful prose. It has been named the best science book ever by the Royal Institution of Great Britain and is considered to be Levi's crowning achievement.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1898 1975, 1982, 1994 & 2014 Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino; Translation © Schocken Books, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks

Profoundly moving

Listening to this series of stories which I had read many years before I was struck by the extraordinary humanity and compassion of this unique man. How it v was possible to have survived Auschwitz and still maintain a balanced and objective view of life is beyond me. In his place I would have spent my remaining years focused on retribution and vengeance. A rare human being. The narration by Neville Jason is in sync with the unfolding accounts, convincing and in some cases deeply moving.

David Evan Glasser

Palatable Horror

Levi survived Auschwitz, and yet this book is fun, showing an appreciation for life as a chemist. Yes, he is bitter, yes he is depressed, but he comes across as nice and interesting.

The pinnacle of science and humanity in writing

Yes, deserved of accolades. A chemical engineer and Holocaust survivor, the author provides life lessons with equal part objective description and wrenching humanity. Thank you, universe, for this gift of human industry.

Autobiographical, not technical

Rough start, but I eventually was hooked. There was some chemistry, lots of interesting history, many sobering looks at homo sapiens.

VERY interesting format for stories

The beginning was a little confusing, as I didn't know what to expect, but after powering through, was totally captivated by each element's "story". The narrator reminds me if David Attenborough; LOVED him. Tongue-in-cheek humkr is delightful!

inspiring and fascinating

the most amazing science book ever written- by one of the most amazing individuals to ever live

wonderful

Great piece of classic literature for history and science enthusiasts! I really enjoyed this book.

Difficult Listen!

There's a pattern of extraneous noise that overlays this production. One suspects that it's been deliberately encoded by the publisher. Anxious as they would be to prevent the heedless duplication of pristine copyrighted material.

If You Loved 'All The Light We Cannot See'

The prose of Levi is the best example of 'Writer's Slight of Hand'. With elegant metaphors he spins the web of the 'Ponderous root of man' - Chemistry. But the allusions to the elements of the PERIODIC TABLE are the frame in which fits the horrors of the Holocaust. The superficial layer is beguiling - Noble Elements, Gold, Sulphur, Zinc, Vanadium. From these there emerges a riff of personal history, personal tragedy and political horror. Thus Noble gases are both 'Noble and Inert' - much like the Turinese family from which Levi springs. Vanadium is the springboard for the reconstruction of a chemist's role in making artificial rubber miles from the crematoria; making rubber and yet agnostic to the nearby horror. For the listener there are some overstatements of science BUT they are balanced by structures of brilliant writing. I could not imagine reading this book as, the narrator, Neville Jason speaks both for the writer, articulates for the listener and provides articulation which informs the prose. This is seminal writing and a high-wire act of story telling and the story teller.

A beautiful, wonderfully crafted and thoughtful gem

I have been mean to read this for years. I wish I had do so sooner. Such a beautiful and smart book.

Delightful! Elements of a Life Well Lived.

For me this was an absolutely delightful book! In fact in 2006 the Royal Institution nominated this book "The Best Science Book Ever". Though I think their accolade is a little OTT, this whimsical, imaginative, autobiographical book is a little gem. I bought it after the BBC played extracts as their "Book of the Week". Don't be put off if you are not a huge fan of science! It is not a science book, but simply Levi's passion for chemistry expressed in the clever device of naming each chapter with one of the chemical elements which are sometimes central, sometimes incidental to the plot of the subsequent anecdote, imagining and/or autobiographical tale.

I initially struggled to get into the style of the book. The first chapter, "The Noble Gasses", relates the quirks & idiosyncrasies of Levi's forebears, and the casual anti-semitism by ignorant 'goyim' they routinely encountered. The range of uncles, aunts, cousins etc. is exhaustive, and the language is at times elaborate, but as the chapter progresses the charm and character of his affectionate observations on human nature shines through. The rest of the book is more earthy.

One of the most moving tales for me was "Vanadium", where he encounters once again the German SS head of the lab at Auschwitz where he was a prisoner, his skill as a chemist exploited as slave labour. This contrasts with an imaginative story like "Carbon", where he traces the multifarious existences of an individual atom of carbon as it passes from limestone to air, to leaf to grape to person to ground etc.

It is beautifully narrated by Neville Jason, who in my imagination became Levi himself as an older man looking back. There was never any pronunciation difficulty with the German, Italian or French phrases, nor with the technical or chemical names.

Overall, a very pleasing audiobook.

Returno to Torino

With a fifty minute bus journey each way and the prospect of a couple of hours to kill on Tuesdays and Thursdays between the end of Business Studies and the start of night school, the colourful cover of a 1977 paperback purchased from a now-gone bookshop on Nolton Street, Bridgend was my first encounter with this book. I’d forgotten what first fascinated me with Turin when I made a longed-for visit to that city, remembered some of the names and the streets and a general feeling.

Primo Levi’s writings are distinguishably Northern Italian, industrial, technical, chemical nuts and bolts - it is an Italy that makes things, that prides itself on calling itself an engineering nation and which looks for echoes of itself in the Works and workings of the Germany machine. The same as the South but different. Similar to the North, but again crucially different. Jewish, of course, and tragically and sickeningly apart from those Wartime neighbours - and there is no better or more arresting description of what it was to be alone as a group in a Europe that does not seem to want you and offers no respite. Poetical, by discovery, the exegesis of any atom of Carbon in Expressionist-standing for the whole of the living and dead world down to the final full stop.

Re-read forty years there is enough that is pedestrian in the prose to confirm that others, such as Eco and Tabucchi have surpassed in style - however, the ability to reach across the years with an undimmed bridge to the central humanity of this man. One of the essential writers of late twentieth century European literature, deserves always to be read.

Extraordinary on so many levels

This is neither a conventional autobiography nor a simple collection of short stories. Primo Levi was a talented chemist, from an Italian Jewish family, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz and was one of the few to survive. The Periodic Table covers important incidents in his life and/or imagination and influences. Each story is inspired by an element from the Periodic Table. It is a fascinating reflection of the pre and post World War Two periods and how Jews were viewed and treated but, more importantly, it is a reflection by an intelligent scientist who is an observant and sensitive wordsmith. He gives little away about his inner thoughts and feelings but they shine through his observations and reactions. Levi's stories reflect the environment and times in which he lived. A thought provoking read in so many ways.

Primo Levy Chemist and Man Extraordinaire

A fascinating series of books bringing together the order required for any analytical chemist in the midst of fascist Italy whilst detailing the life a an Italian Jew growing up in this era , eventually precipitated into the horrors of the Holocaust. Survival and life after these horrors enmeshed with his life as an analytical chemist in post war Europe . A story of a man who never lost the wonder of chemistry and scientific analyses, which he used to describe the world around him. A must for any student of chemistry and life.

A charming and highly unusual autobiography of a wonderful man.

This book is a highly original autobiography of a dedicated carrer chemist who also happens to be a great writer. The author uses the elements of the periodic table to relate episodes of his life either because the element itself formed part of an incident, or because the way in which an element behaves reminded him of a character. You do not need to know any chemistry to love this book (I am the world’s greatest ignoramus about science, something I greatly regret). It is beautifully and amusingly written and keeps you interested at all times. I am reading it again.

Way over me head !

Didn’t understand or get any enjoyment from this book apart from maybe the last chapter . I definitely bit off more than I can chew with this one . Ah well , can’t win them all .
Also there was a weird kind of clucking/dripping noise throughout?????

Excell ent

Fascinating book, elegantly translated, warmly and wonderfully read, an Italian, Jewish memoir of wartime and postwar life. just occasionally prolix, but thoughtful and luminous.
I will look out for more titles read by this narrator. He is one of the very best

slowly gripping. great for long commute.

Slowly gripping. great for long commute. 'short stories') most autobiographical cleverly related to PT (elements).

Not what I expected

Got this mixed up with this other works and bought the wrong one! Found it rather confusing, probably a great book if you are a chemist.

Poinient stimulating and gripping

A wonderfully and cleverly written , with brilliant narration.
I completely recommend to all scientists and historians. What a shame he is no longer with us. I shall be listening or reading to his other accomplishments