#3 Periodic Tales

Periodic Tales is about the history of the discovery of the elements, and Hugh Aldersey-Williams's attempt to observe that history.
Williams* chronicles his travels in search of samples of the elements, to the locations of the discovery of elements, and to the mines of Ytterby, where about 10% of the naturally occurring elements were extracted from the earth and later isolated by scientists employed by the mines.  He also tries to  recreate the chemical experiments that led to the isolation of some of the elements.  (My children were especially amused that the discovery of phosphorous involved Hennig Brand trying to figure out what was in his urine.)
Reading about Williams's excursions made me want to take a few trips myself.  It is amazing how much the properties of the elements have played into human history.  It seems that to Williams, visiting the laboratories where the elements isolated and experimented with is as important as visiting Independence Hall or the Berlin Wall to the human experience.  I think I whole heartily agree.

*I'm not completely sure what the protocol is for hyphenated names, so I just went with the last one.