The Works

I noticed the periodic table (of elements) on 23rd and 30 November 2012 and for some weeks after that I was poking around trying to find some accessible book about the periodic table, even making a special trip to Foyles for the purpose, to find that the only books that they had about the periodic table were far too technical, far too expensive or both. Then thinking that perhaps an interactive version of the table itself would have done the business I tried finding one of those online but did not come up with anything suitable. And so there the matter rested.

But then, the other day, visiting the Epsom branch of 'The Works' (http://www.theworks.co.uk/), a place from which I sometimes buy jigsaws and sometimes buy books that, oddly, have been remaindered despite favourable TLS review, I came across a popular science book all about the periodic table by one Jack Challoner, a chap with a physics background who looks to make a very decent living producing this kind of thing, including quite a lot of work with the Dorling Kindersley noticed on 3rd November last year. See also  http://explaining-science.co.uk/, where amongst other tit-bits one gets a series of pictures of a home dissection of an octopus. Strong stuff!

The book was called 'Understanding the elements: an illustrated guide' and I got it for £6.99 or some such on a ticket price of £20. For this I get around 15 pages of introductory material, then a hundred or so short sections giving short illustrated accounts of each of the hundred or so elements in the periodic table, mostly arranged by column (aka group) of the periodic table. The introduction was pitched about right for me, and although I did think it contained a few confusing misprints, I don't think I should complain for the money; proper science books from Foyles are apt to cost a good deal more than this book did. And the sections are just the ticket for a coffee table book to pick up and idle with during the all too frequent and all too long advertisement breaks on ITV3. Just as well we have a mute button on the remote.

I can't find the book on the website, so perhaps it has been superseded by 'The Elements: An Interactive Guide to the Building Blocks of our Universe' which I can find. I guess this is why my book turns up at the works, but I do wonder what 'interactive' means for the new book. How can a printed book be interactive? One interacts with it by turning the pages?