The Periodic Table (book)
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The Periodic Table | |
Paperback cover - published by Abacus. |
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Author | Primo Levi |
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Original title | Il sistema periodico |
Translator | Raymond Rosenthal |
Country | United Kingdom |
Publisher | Abacus |
Publication date | 1985 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) and (Paperback) |
Pages | 233 |
ISBN | 0-349-12198-2 |
The Periodic Table (Italian: Il Sistema Periodico) is a collection of short stories by Primo Levi, published in 1975. In 2006, the Royal Institution of Great Britain named it the best science book ever [1].
The stories have various themes: the experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, legacies from the profession of chemistry, tales both true and with his own fantasy, creating a vision of the synthesis of the life of the author seen through the kaleidoscope of chemistry. Every story, 21 in total, has the name of a chemical element and is connected to it in some way.
[edit] Contents
- "argon" - infancy of the author, the community of Piedmontese Jews and their language
- "hydrogen" - two kids experiment with electrolysis
- "zinc" - laboratory experiments in a university
- "iron" - the adolescence of the author, between the racial laws and the Alps
- "potassium" - an experience in the laboratory with unexpected effects
- "nickel" - in the chemical laboratories of a mine
- "lead" - the story of a lead quarryman
- "mercury" - a story of life on a desolate island
- "phosphorus" - an experience from a job in the chemical industry
- "gold" - a story of imprisonment
- "cerium" - in order to survive in the Lager
- "chromium" - a recovery of livered varnishes
- "sulfur" - an experience from a job in the chemical industry
- "titanium" - a scene of daily life
- "arsenic" - consultation about a sugar sample
- "nitrogen" - trying to manufacture cosmetics by scratching the floor of a hen-house
- "tin" - a domestic chemical laboratory
- "uranium" - consultation about a piece of metal
- "silver" - the story of some unsuitable photographic plates
- "vanadium" - to find a German chemist after the war
- "carbon" - the history of a carbon atom
[edit] Book information
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi.
- Hardcover - ISBN 0-679-44722-9 (ISBN-13: 978-0-679-44722-1), published in September 1996 by Random House
- Paperback - ISBN 0-805-21041-5 (ISBN-13: 9780805210415), published in April 1995 by Knopf Publishing Group
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