Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Chock full of beautifully done photos, as well as sharp wit. Just about every page has something silly somewhere. For example: "Sodium is the most explosive and the best tasting of all the alkali metals" "Disposable oxygen tanks for hobby brazing and as a refreshing pick-me-up..." "So many important chemicals have been discovered by accident that one has to wonder what a bunch of bumblers chemists are" "Bananas are high in potassium, thus both healthy and radioactive." "This piece of the mineral thorite might contain an atom of francium, if you watch closely." He's also quite informative. For example, some of you may have taken exception to his comment on sodium, which he explains on the page about cesium: "Cesium is widely listed as the most reactive of all the alkali metals, and technically it is. When you drop a piece in a bowl of water it *instantly* explodes, sending water flying in all directions. But that doesn't mean it makes the biggest bang of the alkali metals. Sodium takes longer to explode when tossed into water but the whole time you're waiting, a plume of hydrogen gas is building up, and when all that hydrogen ignites, the explosion is much bigger than anything you can get with cesium" Sounds like some important research there! Or this fact that makes perfect sense, though I never really thought about it: "Even lead will float on mercury" Overall just an excellent, easily readable, pretty, thought-provoking book.