Pairing Books with Movies: The Disappearing Spoon

The Disappearing Spoon

And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

by Sam Kean

★★★★

Chemistry has never been my thing. I hated it in high school (except for the part where we melted mechanical pencils over the Bunsen burner). Recently watching the chemistry Crash Course episodes has reminded me that chemistry is not just the boring science class I struggled to stay awake through in high school. Chemistry is everything around us and understanding a bit about it will help me better understand the way the world works.

So I picked up The Disappearing Spoon with that in mind and was richly rewarded. Kean’s writing style was fun and made the subject matter interesting. He talks not only about the science behind each element, but about the scientists who discovered them and the impact they had on the world.

For example Mendeleev, who is credited with creating the Periodic Table, had a fascinating start. He was born in Siberia, the youngest of 11 children. His father died when he was only 13 and his mother worked incredibly hard to give him the chance to go to school. Imagine having to overcome all of those things just to be able to go to school!

Another favorite of mine was Marie Curie. Her fascinating life, including a marriage that was far ahead of its time and the discovery of multiple elements was so interesting. She won a Nobel Prize in a time when women in America weren’t even allowed to vote. I would love to a biography that focused solely on her (tell me if you have read a good one!)

The periodic table has changed the world in both positive and negative ways. Kean doesn’t shy away from the damage that’s been done because of the discovery of a new element. He talks about the effects of vaccinations and medicines and also at the way chemistry made things like the atom bomb possible. When cell phones became wildly popular in the 1990s the fight to find more of the metal used to create them caused the Congo to explode with fighting. People were in a frenzy to provide the metal that was in such high demand.

“Overall more than 5 million people have died in Congo since the mid-1990s, making it the biggest waste of life since World War II. The fighting there is proof that in addition to all the uplifting moments the Periodic table has inspired it can also play on humankind's worst, most inhumane instincts.”

This balanced look at the Table reminds us that with great knowledge (just like great power) comes great responsibility. Almost any scientific advance can be used for good or bad and there will always be a struggle to use it correctly.

BOTTOM LINE: The most interesting book I’ve read ever read about chemistry and one that kept me intrigued the entire time. We live in a truly remarkable world and I’ll never regret reading a book that opens up a new corner of that world to me.  

Pair with a viewing of the complete list of Hank Green’s Crash Course show on chemistry. There’s also a 1943 movie called Madame Curie, but I can’t find a copy of it anywhere so I have no idea if it’s any good. 

Another review at Scuffed Slippers and Wormy Books.

Here’s Marie Curie’s obituary.

*Image from Crash Course