Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements | 
| Author: John Emsley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 48645
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0198503407
Dewey Decimal Number: 546
EAN: 9780198503408
ASIN: 0198503407
Publication Date: September 18, 2003
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Product Description
What is the most common element in the universe? Can you name the noble gases? Everything we see around us is made of chemical elements, but most of us know little about them.
Penned by award-winning science writer John Emsley, Nature's Building Blocks explains the what, why and wherefore of the chemical elements. Arranged alphabetically, from Actinium to Zirconium, it is a complete guide to all 115 of those that are currently known, with more extensive coverage of those elements we encounter in our everyday life. The entry on each element reveals where it came from, what role it may have in the human body, and the foods that contain it. There are also sections on its discovery, its part in human health or illness, the uses and misuses to which it is put, and its environmental role. Readers discover that the Earth consists of around 90 elements, some of which are abundant, such as the silicon and oxygen of rocks and soils, while some are so rare that they make gold seem cheap. Our own bodies contain about 30 elements, some in abundance, some in trace amounts; some vital to our health, and some that are positively harmful. A list of the main scientific data, and outline properties, are given for every element and each section ends with an "Element of Surprise," which highlights some unexpected way in which each element influences our everyday life.
Both a reliable reference source and a high browsable account of the elements, Nature's Building Blocks offers a pleasurable tour of the very essence of our material world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 A fascinating tour de force March 14, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an outstanding piece of work aimed at the intellectually and scientifically curious that also works as a nice reference book on the elements and the Periodic Table.
After a short introduction filled with some top ten tables (e.g., top ten elements in the earth's crust: "Oxygen 466,000" parts per million, "Silicon 277,000" p.p.m., etc.) Emsley spins out a chapter per element in alphabetical order beginning with Actinium and ending with Zirconium. Each chapter is filled with interesting and specific information about the element in question. In the chapter on carbon, for example--understandably one of the longest in the book (7 pages), since carbon is so important to us and so plentiful--there are sections entitled "COSMIC ELEMENT, HUMAN ELEMENT, FOOD ELEMENT, MEDICAL ELEMENT, ELEMENT OF HISTORY, ELEMENT OF WAR, ECONOMIC ELEMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENT, CHEMICAL ELEMENT," and "ELEMENT OF SURPRISE."
The idea is to place each element in terms of its importance in these various categories as well as giving all sorts of information about its history, abundance and uses. In the ELEMENT OF SURPRISE section Emsley usually comes up with something unusual or striking about the use or the history of the element. In the case of iron, Emsley cites a research project that "fertilized" a barren part of the ocean west of the Galapagos Islands with iron sulfate with dramatic results: "Within a week this barren span of ocean bloomed and turned green with plankton, proving that it was simply lack of this metal that was limiting their growth." (p. 211)
Included in the sections are tables showing how much of the element is in the human body (in the blood, in bones and tissues), and how much is in the environment (in the crust, in the soil, in sea water, and the atmosphere). A third table gives the element's chemical symbol, its atomic number, its atomic weight, melting point, boiling point, density and oxides, if any.
There is a final chapter on the history and development of the Periodic Table, which I found interesting. One of Emsley's strengths is his ability to make the material just so fascinating to read. Part of that comes from his obvious love for his subject matter. He is so good he makes me regret that I did not study chemistry when I was young. Just reading this book has opened my eyes to some of the ideas of chemistry and has greatly improved my knowledge of what the elements are like and how they interact with one another to form various molecules as they become familiar and not so familiar substances.
Here are examples of some of the fascinating details that can be found in the book:
"Iridium is the most corrosion-resistant metal known... The standard metre bar, kept in Paris, is made of a platinum-iridium alloy (90% platinum and 10% iridium) but this was superseded as the basic unit of length in 1960 by a line in the atomic spectrum of krypton (see p. 213)."
And on page 213 we find that "The standard was changed in 1983 to one based on the speed of light in a vacuum, a metre being the distance light travelled in 1/299 793 458th of a second, as measured by a light beam from a helium-neon laser."
"Inside the body, iron, as iron(III), is strongly bound by transferrin, a protein found in serum and other secretions... Transferrin binds iron tightly and, because it does so, it acts as a powerful antibiotic simply by denying this essential metal to any invading bacteria which need iron to multiply. As soon as our body registers a bacterial invasion, it produces more transferrin to mop up any free iron in the blood stream and 'hide' it in the liver." (p. 206)
"Neodymium-iron-boron (NIB) magnets are so powerful that those handling them must wear protective glasses--they fly together with such force that they can shatter and send splinters flying in all directions. At times young people have used these industrial magnets to attach ornaments to their cheeks by putting one of the small magnets on the inside of the mouth. However, the magnet and ornament have then proved impossible to pull apart, sometimes necessitating a visit to a hospital for surgical removal." (p. 270)
I have two suggestions for the next edition: (1) provide an index; (2) give us the value of the elements in terms of current (or relative) dollars or Euros. It would be fun to compare. (I realize that in some cases, the value of an element because it is so rare or not used for anything would be just an educated guess, but that's okay.)
Another interesting book by John Emsley is The Thirteenth Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus (2000). See my review.
Fantastic June 8, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dittos to all who gave this book 5 stars. This is a fact filled book that anyone would find interesting.
 Building Blocks is a Delighful Read; fails as a solid reference February 19, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
While I am greatly enjoying Nature's Building Blocks by John Emsley, I am sorely disappointed in not finding an index for this wonderful book. When trying to go back and pull out some gem or another, I find myself groping and grumbling at this editorial oversight.
Ah, cool chem book...wish I had had it a semester ago... December 16, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've been teaching chemistry for the last three semester at our local community college. Never mind the fact that my major was in neuroscience (emphasis on studying disease in the brain). I had loads of chemistry classes, so it wasn't like I was coming into these classrooms with no previous knowledge.
But I've been having problems first of all with the quality of the textbooks recommended to teach with...actually, had to beg the school to get a different book because the chem textbook they were using was very wrong in so many problems and even basic text. Not only was I finding them, but the students were finding them also.
The next problem I'm having is the overwhelming emphasis put in general chemistry on math, rather than on the science of chemistry and the elements. Yes, the students need basic algebraic constructs, but if all the teaching in chemistry is mathematically-related, I lose my students very quickly in an area which can be loads of fun to study (given a great teacher who knows how to teach it...which I luckily had two great teachers in chemistry).
So I've been looking at the books being recommended to me by Amazon.com, and this is the third book. I liked the other ones. They were fun and had some hilarious history, but first of all I want my students to become really familiar with the periodical table and all of the elements. All the math in the world, without a basic understanding of the elements is going to lead no where, especially since my students are usually going into medical fields.
This book is clean and concisely written, and I can hardly wait to use it this coming semester.
Karen Sadler
Chemistry
Community Colleg of Allegheny County
Great source for Elemental Education October 9, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved this book. I am teaching an introduction to chemistry course and a general chemistry course. This book has been an invaluable tool for having interesting facts about the elements at my fingertips.
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