"One of the grandest rewards of the scientific perspective is that it allows us to view the familiar world in fresh and unfamiliar ways. . . . The Elements breaks physical reality down into its smallest cohesive parts, as have many other books about the periodic table. What is unusual here is the way this book builds the story back up. Ball, who originally trained as a chemist, plunges deep into the history of the elements, dividing it into eight eras, each defined by distinctive notions of what it means for a substance to be fundamental. . . . Today, the periodic table is still expanding, as researchers synthesize heavier and heavier atomic nuclei. But even the well-known elements remain in flux, changing with each shift in our scientific thinking. The book's illustrations, meticulously researched and artfully presented, drive home the point. A gold-platinum mask, forged by an unknown pre-Columbian artist some 2,500 years ago, demonstrates an advanced understanding of alloys, but it stares out of the page with an almost alien visage."– "American Scientist"