Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements

But how did he get there, intellectually? Was he just a dwarf standing on the shoulder of giants? Or uniquely gifted? On the basis of the facts and anecdotes Strathern skilfully weaves together here, the whole historical drama of chemical science, from the Four Elements of the Greeks, through the gold-hunting alchemy of the Arabs, to the near-misses (Phlogiston) of the Enlightenment, had been a kind of narrative prologue, building up to that seminal February day in Moscow and Mendeleyev's discovery of the Periodic Table.

Strathern's style is polished, lucid and easy-going. It is also extremely well matched to the fascinating story adduced in this absorbing and enlightening book.--Sean Thomas

Paul Strathern's book is easy and enjoyable to read if, like me, you're interested in the history of chemistry. It's filled with quirky, eccentric characters and interesting facts. But any reader hoping to learn some chemistry made easy from this book will be disappointed. If you want a really fascinating book that concentrates more on the *science* of chemistry, rather than just the *history* of chemistry, I suggest you search Amazon for John Emsley's "Molecules at an Exhibition" which is bound to entertain you and fill you with wonder.


Dream? Coma more like!   August 22, 2003
. (Lake District, UK)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful

Mendeleyev would certain dream if he had read this. The best cure for insomnia I've ever encountered. There is just simply too much history and not enough periodic table. At two thirds of the way through and barely a mention of Mendeleyev - the reason I bought the book in the first place - only sheer willpower to get to Mendeleyev's cameo role (and the odd flicking to the good bits!)is keeping me going. Chemistry fascinates me... this book does not.


A heavy subject given the light treatment.   February 12, 2003
Martin Ohara
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

An excellent story, extremely well told in a manner that engages. The book is not a detailed biography of Medeleyev, but a history of the discovery of the elements through the ages. The chapters are virtually self contained miniature histories and for me those on Percelsus alone are well worth reading even in isolation from the rest of the book. The style is light and entertaining as well as informative, the biographical details of Medeleyev are mininal but relatively self contained. The only negative I could find is a slight over emphasis on the role of philosophy in the history of the elements, a subject that is obviously close to the authors heart, but this does not in anyway detract from the subject or the telling.


From air, water and stone to the Periodic Table   December 6, 2002
Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Who among us can't recall, at least in a general way, the first day of high school chemistry when we were first confronted with that mysterious Periodic Table of the Elements hanging on the wall? Now, as ignorant novices in Chem 1A, we were at last to be initiated into its arcane symbolism.

MENDELEYEV'S DREAM is the story of chemistry, from the ancient Greek, Anaximenes, with his theory of air as the fundamental element compressible to water and stone, to the gnomic Russian genius, Mendeleyev, who conceived the Periodic Table in the mid-19th century. Conceived it in a dream during an exhausted sleep brought on by overwork and frustrated creativity. Sleeping, when he should have been on his way to address a meeting of local cheese-makers.

The author, Paul Strathern, has written a fine narrative overview of the evolution of the scientific method and the chemist's art, from the philosophical musings of the ancients on the nature of the universe, through the long centuries when alchemy held sway, to chemistry's current place in the Pantheon of Sciences. Along the way, Strathern introduces us to the greatest scientific minds and gifted eccentrics of their respective ages: Empedocles, Aristotle, Zosimus, Jabir ibn-Hayyan, Avicenna, Paracelsus, Nicholas of Cusa, Galileo, Descartes, Francis Bacon, van Helmont, Robert Boyle, Hennig Brand, Karl Scheele, Johann Becher, Henry Cavendish, Joseph Priestley, Antoine Lavoisier, John Dalton, Jöns Berzelius, and a host of others. And, finally, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev.

The nature of the book's subject could easily lend itself to tedium, but the author's style is light - only once does he "balance" a chemical formula, and his intermittent dry wit was much appreciated. What, for instance, was Hennig Brand doing with those fifty buckets of putrefying human urine? His neighbors were undoubtedly not thrilled. And why might the Dutch Assembly have been justified in tacking-up "wanted-posters" around town for Johann Becher, who had just absconded on a fast boat for London?

A scientist himself, Paul has not penned a great technical piece. Rather, he's written an uncomplicated, engaging work of popular science likely to appeal to those of us who ... well, let's just say, didn't learn to transmute lead into gold, much less ace Chem 1A. Now, if someone could just do the same for differential calculus.


A popular account of chemistry, finally.   August 5, 2002
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is a nice book about not so popular a subject.
To many people, chemistry classes are not the fondest of memories. Some people (like me) have had to endure the gruesome experience of rote learning Mendeleyev's table, and I have had to pass chemistry exams without the table (but needing its information, so I had to know it).
Nevertheless, this book proves that reading about the history of chemistry need not be as gruesome as learning Mendeleyev's table; on the contrary, when it is well told, it is fun. Although little time is spent on Mendeleyev himself (I would actually have liked to learn a little bit more about the man), this book beautifully traces the history of chemistry, from the ancient Greeks, over the alchemists, to early-twentiest century chemistry. It stops at the turn of the century, so it unfortunately lacks information about the fate of chemistry during the twentiest century (which has cost it a star in my rating): nothing is said about the fusion of chemistry with quantum physics for instance, which explains Mendeleyev's table on a deeper fundamental level; neither does one learn about what contemporary chemistry is about.

Nevertheless, this book is easy and fun to read, and should do excellently for a lost afternoon under the cover of a palm tree, or a quiet evening by the fire.