New book explores the fascinating history behind the elements in the periodic table

The periodic table is one of science's crowning achievements. And though many of us may recall it as the staid chart we were forever forced to witness during dull lectures in high school chemistry classrooms, it's much more a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements [Little, Brown and Company; July 12, 2010; $29.99; Hardcover] follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold, and all of the elements as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. Filled with surprising and fascinating stories, from the old trick of molding a spoon out of gallium (element 31), which will melt and seemingly disappear in your unwitting friend's cup of coffee, to modern archeologists who were able to track Lewis and Clark's campsites by detecting the mercury they left behind from their laxatives, THE DISAPPEARING SPOON fuses the periodic table's science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery, and alchemy, from the big bang through the end of time.

Provided by Little, Brown and Company