That all the tens of millions of different substances and materials were made up of only 92 elements is a magical story vividly told. Originally published 50 years ago it is updated and includes the man-made elements of the nuclear age and the latest insights into the periodic table and the nature of matter.

From water, air, and fire to tennessine and oganesson, celebrated science writer Philip Ball leads us through the full sweep of the field of chemistry in this exquisitely illustrated history of the elements. The Elements is a stunning visual journey through the discovery of the chemical building blocks of our universe. By piecing together the history of the periodic table, Ball explores not only how we have come to understand what everything is made of, but also how chemistry developed into a modern science. Ball groups the elements into chronological eras of discovery, covering seven millennia from the first known to the last named. As he moves from prehistory and classical antiquity to the age of atomic bombs and particle accelerators, Ball highlights images and stories from around the world and sheds needed light on those who struggled for their ideas to gain inclusion. By also featuring some elements that aren’t true elements but were long thought to be—from the foundational prote hyle and heavenly aetherof the ancient Greeks to more recent false elements like phlogiston and caloric—The Elements boldly tells the full history of the central science of chemistry.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of an important notion to the field of chemistry: the chemical element.

In A Tale of Seven Elements, Eric Scerri presents the fascinating history of those seven elements discovered to be mysteriously "missing" from the periodic table in 1913.

The story of the false entries, good-faith errors, retractions, and mistakes that occurred during the formation of the Periodic Table of Elements as we know it.

When was radium discovered? Who are Dmitri Mendeleev and Glenn T. Seaborg? Who discovered uranium's radioactivity? Which element is useful for dating the age of Earth? And why doesn't gold have a scientific name? 30-Second Elements presents you with the very foundations of chemical knowledge, explaining concisely the 50 most significant chemical elements. This book uses helpful glossaries and tables to fast track your knowledge of the other 68 elements and the relationships between all of them.

In the spirit of A Short History of Nearly Everything comes Periodic Tales. Award-winning science writer Hugh Andersey-Williams offers readers a captivating look at the elements—and the amazing, little-known stories behind their discoveries. Periodic Tales is an energetic and wide-ranging book of innovations and innovators, of superstition and science and the myriad ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language. It will delight readers of Genome, Einstein’s Dreams, Longitude, and The Age of Wonder.