The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey into the Land of the Chemical Elements (Science Masters Series)

Average customer rating:

Excellent concept, poorly executed

A Great Introduction

wonderful introduction to chemistry

Extended Metaphor

A pleasure to read. Very stimulating and inspirational.

The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey into the Land of the Chemical Elements (Science Masters Series)
P. W. Atkins
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0465072666

Amazon.com

The periodic table of the elements is the grand, unified theory of chemistry. In The Periodic Kingdom, P. W. Atkins imagines the table as a landscape, with fields of metals, pools of mercury and bromine, clouds of gases, and the offshore island of rare earths. He describes the history of this metaphoric kingdom and shows how its laws are those of physical chemistry: they are the expression in the visible world of the invisible dance of subatomic particles. The Periodic Kingdom is an excellent book for students at any level who want to see the connections between chemistry, physics, and "real life."

Book Description

This book introduces readers to the most important unifying concept in chemistry: the periodic table. From the 100d or so elements at the heart of the story, everything tangible is made, whether a planet or a microscopic organism.

The Periodic Kingdom is cleverly arranged like a travel guide. With vivid imagery, the author describes the organization of the kingdom of the elements, the history of its discovery, and where the elements came from. Atkins shows how the elements relate to one another and explains how the location of an element in this imaginary landscape can be used to predict its properties.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent concept, poorly executed.......2007-05-21

I very much agree with the review by Publishers Weekly, which stated that this book is "remarkably tedious." The concept of likening the periodic table of chemical elements to a landscape is near brilliant. It could have worked so wonderfully well, if only it had been better done. The author of this book was... at the time of its writing... a middle-aged British university professor, and he writes like you would expect him to talk. Wordy, wordy, wordy! It takes forever to dredge through the written material to get to a gleaming nugget of knowledge. It's rather like watching an English movie from the 1940s. Another glaring... REALLY obvious... deficiency of this book is the lack of adequate visual representations. There are a few black and white "maps" of the "landscape" of the periodic table, with the components thereof very poorly labeled. What this book needs is a quite thorough editing and modernizing by an American editor. It's sad that this book could have been so very much more than it is.

A Great Introduction.......2007-05-18

As someone who teaches first year undergraduate students about periodic trends and attempts to give them an underlying cause that isn't physical chemistry heavy, this book has been an excellent source of discussion fodder for me. I enjoyed reading it the first time, though it didn't present anyting new. What it did do, for which I am very grateful, is present the material in a different, and visualizable way - a way that can be modified to the classroom.

The metaphor gets a little heavy-handed towards the end, and at times I wished Atkins would lay off it a little, but this is likely due to my previous immersion in the material and not a problem with the book. Were it my first or second time through the material, or if I were a gen. chem. student struggling with the concept, I wouldn't feel so "let's get on with it" about it at all.

wonderful introduction to chemistry.......2005-07-04

As a physicist, I have always felt I understood the basic concepts of atomic structure, the Bohr atom through the Dirac treatment of relativistic electrons and that was enough about chemistry that I needed to know. Of course, that was a very shortsighted point of view and did nothing for a practical understanding of how the elements interact. This book gives a wonderful introduction to just that topic. It starts off with an overview of how the basic properties of the elements vary, in a systematic way, across the periodic table. The books metaphor of a new land, makes it amazingly easy to remember these properties. Nothing else I've read has been as successful as conveying this. I would buy this book for the first four chapters alone. There are, of course, some problems with the book. For one, the author seems to have gotten a "new word a day" calendar and seems to feel the need to use them. ("Complexity can effloresce from subtly different consanguinity.") But fortunately, these are few and far between. Could a non-technical person read and enjoy this book? I have no idea but I would recommend they try.

Extended Metaphor.......2005-04-09

This book presents the very basics of the chemical elements and the organization of the periodic table. Atkins' unique approach is to present the material in the form of an analogy, or even an extended metaphor, with the chemical elements as a kingdom, complete with geographical regions, history, laws, and institutions. Along these lines, the book is divided into 3 parts: Geography, History, and Government and Institutions. At the end of the book are found a short list of items for further reading, an index, and a periodic table.

The geographical approach is quite appealing, but somehow falls short of its goal of making the material easily accessible to non-chemists. Describing the sections of the periodic table as having geographic correlates has a lot of explanatory potential. Unfortunately, the maps that are used to illustrate the concepts are presented in varying directions (sometimes from the North looking South, sometimes from the South looking North, etc.), but without directional symbols for orientation. Although orientational clues are generally provided in the captions, interpreting the maps is still far from easy, especially since the elements are not labeled. Readers who don't have a thorough familiarity with the periodic table will find it useful to study these maps with a periodic table in hand for comparison, hence the usefulness of the periodic table that is included at the back of the book. (Unfortunately, I never discovered this table until I had already read the book through, since it isn't referenced anywhere in the text.)

One reason I picked up this book is that I have always been fascinated with the organization of the elements in the period table. I know there are alternative forms for representing the organization of the elements, such as the 3-D Periodic Round Table, which shows continuities between sub-groups rather than simple column edges. I'd like to know more about why our usual 2-D periodic table is arranged the way it is, and what relationships are encoded in its presentation. Atkins touches on these subjects with both historical information and discussion of chemical properties and bonds. However, I found his prose often obtuse, and after reading the book, I'm still unclear about many of the key issues. It seems as though the metaphor of the elements as a kingdom sometimes gets pushed a bit too far and hinders rather than helps clarity. Nevertheless, the book does have some interesting sections and up-to-date information about basic chemistry.

A pleasure to read. Very stimulating and inspirational........2004-10-17

I am an outstanding reader. If I had tried, I could have read this entire book in one sitting. It is not a demanding text. After the first chapter, I didn't want to try to read it in one sitting because it is so well concieved and written. It was truly a pleasure to read.
This would be a great book to have on a long trip or a long hospitalization. The next time I read it I will have pen and paper at hand to keep track of the epiphanies it inspired.

Book Description

This book includes a selection of oral and poster presentations from "Onshore-Offshore Relationships on the Nordic Margin Conference" held in Trondheim in 2002. The conference was jointly arranged by the Norwegian Geological Society (NGF) and the Norwegian Petroleum Society (NPF), and attempted, through different thematic sessions, to bridge the gap often noted between industry and academic research.

The first part of the conference included presentations under the theme "Basement control on offshore structuring" with representative articles from that segment included in this book and covering topics that range from analysis of vertical movements of basement substrates to the deep structural architecture of the Norwegian Sea to the development of the Jan Mayen microcontinent. These papers set the scene for the second segment of the conference, "Linking uplift and erosion with subsidence and deposition", that in the present book include articles related to the Triassic to Present-day infill history in the Norwegian and northern North Seas. The last segment of the conference addressed "New challenges" with respect to natural features of the deep-water areas that necessitate particular consideration and innovation on the part of research and industry to mitigate risk and maximize returns from field development.

In this book, the articles addressing this theme present analyses of the enormous submarine slides that took place during the Holocene in the Norwegian Sea, and are of particular interest to the developers of the Ormen Lange gas field; other articles address the occurrences of gas hydrates in the near sea floor and the challenges presented in identifying and protecting the Lophelia cold-water reefs in the region.

* Processes creating the structural framework for the deposition and depositional patterns in the Norwegian Sea and northern North Sea
* Erosion and subsequent deposition of sediments in the subsiding deep-water basins in the Norwegian Sea area and northern North Sea
* Challenges the oil industry has met in the deep-water areas of the Norwegian continental shelf

Book Description

This comprehensive overview of stellar astrophysical fluid dynamics includes properties of pulsating stars; helioseismology; convection and mixing in stellar interiors; and dynamics of stellar rotation, planet formation and the generation of stellar and planetary magnetic fields. Each chapter is written by a leading expert in the field and extensive references to technical literature are made.

Download Description

In all phases of the life of a star, hydrodynamical processes play a major role. This volume gives a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in stellar astrophysical fluid dynamics, and marks the 60th birthday of Douglas Gough, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge and leading contributor to stellar astrophysical fluid dynamics. Topics include properties of pulsating stars, helioseismology, convection and mixing in stellar interiors, dynamics of stellar rotation, planet formation and the generation of stellar and planetary magnetic fields. Each chapter is written by leading experts in the field, and the book provides an overview that is central to any attempt to understand the properties of stars and their evolution. With extensive references to the technical literature, this is a valuable text for researchers and graduate students in stellar astrophysics.

Average customer rating:

Well, more like 2-1/2 stars

Not for Me

Funny, sad and beautifully written

Refreshing approach.

Absolutely classic!

Ray in Reverse
Daniel Wallace
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142000094

Amazon.com

Ray in Reverse is such an exceptionally winning novel from start to finish (or would that be finish to start?) that one can almost forgive its opening chapter. The shtick: Ray's in heaven, and he's joined a group called Last Words, where the members... well, you guessed it, rehash the last things they said on Earth. As it turns out, the dead make for fierce critics, and when they criticize his offering (the incomplete phrase "I wish--"), Ray storms out in a huff.

Not so funny, actually, but what follows is--funny, as well as heartbreaking and all too real. From the second chapter onward, Ray relives the most prominent episodes of his life in reverse order, starting with his fatal cancer and working his way back. Here is Ray losing hair, growing wings, and trying to make his final amends; Ray building his son a tree house and getting drunk there every night; Ray with amnesia; Ray stealing the good-luck penny from his dead grandfather's pocket. The book ends with Ray's last act of true innocence, at age 10: "He was simply doing the right thing, and doing the right thing came to him as naturally as breathing. How could he have known that this was a talent that would be lost over time?"

Ray's is an ordinary life, with an ordinary mixture of good intentions and bad judgment, but it's also one in which extraordinary things happen. In Big Fish, his first novel, Daniel Wallace proved himself a master at mapping precisely the point where the mythic and the quotidian meet. With its gentle humor and pitch-perfect prose, Ray in Reverse is exactly the right kind of fairy tale for our unmagical times. --Mary Park

Book Description

"Daniel Wallace brings to his role as author wit, a subtle compassion, and an offbeat originality that begins, but certainly doesn't end, with the backward unreeling of this refreshingly savvy novel." (The Boston Globe)

Regret looms large in Daniel Wallace's latest novel, Ray in Reverse, the funny and poignant story of a life, told backward. Sitting in the Last Words support group in Heaven, Ray Williams ruminates on his short life of fifty years, his episodes of infidelity, his premature marriage proposal, his sexual confusion, the dog he accidentally killed, and the baby he unwittingly saved. Ray is Everyman at his very best and his absolute worst-even he can't always tell the difference. Beginning at death and ending in his childhood, Ray in Reverse leads us back to Ray in his innocence, achieving, against all odds, a happy ending.

Customer Reviews:

Well, more like 2-1/2 stars.......2004-07-24

Although I was intrigued with the basic premise for this story (a guy who's recently deceased finds himself participating in a discussion group in heaven devoted to "Last Words," and his life's story is told in reverse order), the main character himself is utterly unremarkable. He has very few redeeming qualities, led a trite and meaningless life, and I found myself not caring much about what his last words would have been if he'd had the chance to finish them (and as it turned out, the thought he was trying to express during his final moments was entirely in keeping with his character). He did do one good deed during his entire life, which was revealed near the end of the book (since it happened early in his childhood), but the remainder of his existence was, for the most part, less than ordinary.

If you're looking for an uplifting story about a much more worthy soul who knew what it meant to live fully and to completely love another human being, I would recommend "The Notebook," by Nicholas Sparks.

Not for Me.......2002-06-26

Friends of mine recommended this book. Being an avid reader, I bought it. However, this book ranked very low on my reading list. In fact, I did not even finish this book (something, I almost never do). After forty pages, I put the book down. A day later, I picked it back up, hoping that I simply had not grasp the characters or the storyline. But after 90 pages, I simply put the book down for good. I suppose some will chastise me for not finishing the book, and others will comment that you cannot adequately review a book unless you actually finish it. However, this book simply did not appeal to me. I found the story bordering on depressing. And, I found little humor in a life so mundane. I suppose some people feel a connection to Ray (as did the people who recommended the book to me). However, my idea of a good book is one that educates, entertains and enlightens. I found none of this in Ray in Reverse. The book may chronicle real life but, as written, the book does little to demonstrate that real life is interesting. If you are considering this book, then think twice. Maybe it's for you, but it was not for me.

Funny, sad and beautifully written.......2000-08-29

Ray Williams, the deceased protagonist of Daniel Wallace's tragicomic second novel, finds himself in Heaven's "Last Words" discussion group. Embarrassed by his prosaic death (from cancer at age 50) and his inconclusive final utterance, "I wish," he initially fabricates a more bloody and dramatic ending and, unmasked, storms off in a huff. His life then passes before us in a series of vignettes, beginning with his slow dying while the backyard birds make nests of his discarded hair and ending with an innocent act of simple heroism at age 10.

Each chapter reveals an emotionally pivotal moment in Ray's life - his wife's infidelity and the near break-up of his marriage, the treehouse he built for his son and used himself as a drinking refuge, his sexual confusion, early relationships, one-night stands, childhood mysteries. The chapters are complete stories; some brief and poignant, some more complex, revealing harrowing secrets - jolting the reader and Ray too.

Williams' comic touch is sometimes gentle, even sad, other times prickly and nightmarish. In one incident Ray hits a dog with his car and rather than driving on, stops, finds the dog's address from its tag and visits the animal's owners, thereby embroiling himself in an ugly, absurd scene between a warring couple.

Ray is no angel. Often clueless, he is occasionally cruel, subject to the buffets of fate and capable of acts of spontaneous generosity. Wallace's ("Big Fish") rendering of him is sharp but empathetic, making his story compelling and real. The completeness of the vignettes sometimes leaves loose ends dangling, conveying the feeling that Ray has compartmentalized his life to avoid the mysteries of his own nature. The reverse structure reinforces this - showing how Ray got to where he ended up - not from a progression of events so much as the natural, halting, unknowable vicissitudes of one man's human nature.

Refreshing approach........2000-06-25

Daniel Wallace is one of the original writers I've discovered in the past year. He's one of the few willing to step outside the box and try something different.

"Ray in Reverse" is told in a reversed order--death begins, and childhood ends the book. It was immensely enjoyable and easy to read. I'm not sure what the significance of Ray's final words were, but I like the fact that you're allowed to think about it and come up with your own conclusions. I would reccomend this book to anyone and I'm looking forward to reading his first book.

Absolutely classic!.......2000-06-14

I read the reviews for this book and had to check it out for myself. I laughed a lot and thought a lot. What I found most intriguing was how well the author was able to really define where innocence ended and jadedness began in Ray's life...or is that jadedness ended and innocence began. It certainly gave me pause in looking at my own life.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read. I thought that the first chapter was absolutely hysterical. I didn't laugh that hard again until the very last line which was absolutely classic and probably portrays human nature,even at the end of our lives, more accurately than most of us would like to think.

Average customer rating:

Review on Vintage Silhouette Book

Vintage Silhouettes on Glass & Reverse Paintings
Ray Mace
Manufacturer: Shadow Enterprises
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Book Description

This book has over 500 photographs of vintage American silhouettes from the 1920s to the 1950s. Includes sections on convex and flat glass and shows hand painted as well as silk-screened examples. It includes artist profiles, company information, and other valuable information for beginning and advanced silhouette collectors. It is a companion book for "Encyclopedia of Silhouette Collectibles on Glass" 1992 by Shirley Mace.

Customer Reviews:

Review on Vintage Silhouette Book.......2000-04-29

This book was purchased as a gift for my mother. She is an avid silhouette collector and was pleased when she opened her present! It is very informative and contains a great amount of pictures to help identify silhouettes from her collection. I would recommend this for anyone interested in learning more about silhouettes or anyone that has a collection. The book is separated into 3 sections: convex glass, flat glass, and miscellaneous. The final section contains a price guide to help inform collectors of the approximate value for their vintage silhouettes. Oh - finding this book in Amazon was great! We've been looking throughout various bookstores and haven't come across one with as much information!

Age to Perfection (Weight): Creative Visualization to Perfect Your Weight and Reverse the Aging Process (Aged to Perfection)

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I have gained peace through listening to this tape.

Age to Perfection (Weight): Creative Visualization to Perfect Your Weight and Reverse the Aging Process (Aged to Perfection)
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I have gained peace through listening to this tape........1998-08-24

I listen to this tape as often as my time permits. I'm glad to know that someone has taken the time to make a tape like this. I'd like to find others on business techniques, selling, etc.

Aged to Perfection (Skin): Creative Visualization to Perfect Your Skin and Reverse the Aging Process (Aged to Perfection)

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Fit & Sexy After Fifty: The Conspiracy of Aging--And How to Reverse It!

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Fit & Sexy After Fifty: The Conspiracy of Aging--And How to Reverse It!
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Ray in Reverse
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Reverse Discrimination and Remedial Affirmative Action in Employment : Dealing With the Paradox of Nondiscrimination.: An article from: Public Personnel Management

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Reverse Discrimination and Remedial Affirmative Action in Employment : Dealing With the Paradox of Nondiscrimination.: An article from: Public Personnel Management
Carlos Ray Gullett
Manufacturer: International Personnel Management Association
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This digital document is an article from Public Personnel Management, published by International Personnel Management Association on March 22, 2000. The length of the article is 5348 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Reverse Discrimination and Remedial Affirmative Action in Employment : Dealing With the Paradox of Nondiscrimination.
Author: Carlos Ray Gullett
Publication: Public Personnel Management (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2000
Publisher: International Personnel Management Association
Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Page: 107

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Big Fish and Ray in Reverse (2 books, as a set)

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Big Fish and Ray in Reverse (2 books, as a set)
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Identification of Surface Chemical Functional Groups in Reverse Osmosis Polymeric Membranes: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study

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Identification of Surface Chemical Functional Groups in Reverse Osmosis Polymeric Membranes: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study
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Multielement analysis of water through osmotic reduction and X-rays: Technical completion report

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Multielement analysis of water through osmotic reduction and X-rays: Technical completion report
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