???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Enthralling stories behind every element on the periodic table: The Disappearing Spoon gets its name from a popular lab prank that involves serving someone tea with a spoon made out of gallium — which melts at relatively low temperatures — and watching the spoon disappear into the hot cup of tea. This is one of several random facts and anecdotes related to the elements, those that discovered them and the table itself that science journalist Sam Kean brings together into a captivating read. Kan gives each element personalities, from carbon — which he deems promiscuous because it “latches onto virtually anything” — to tungsten, which was “the ‘it’ metal of the Second World War” because it was used for weapons. The book also focuses on the real personalities of the people who discovered the elements and that put the table together, including inventor Dmitri Mendeleev who first proposed arranging elements in a chart in the 19th century, leading Russia’s Emperor Alexander III to overlook his bigamy, saying “I admit, Mendeleev has two wives, but I have only one Mendeleev.”