Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc - Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Published in 2011 by Penguin Book Ltd, London, UK and HarperCollins Publisher, New York, NY

428 pages

ISBN: 978-0-06-182473-9

For most of us, the first memories of learning about the periodic table often take us back to a high school chemistry class. While it may seem mundane and rather boring, the periodic table is a taxonomical stroke of genius. Organizing the elements, the fundamental building blocks of the universe, into a readily accessible and understandable format has been a revolutionary development in the history of science, allowing chemists and physicists to make enormous leaps and bounds in discovering new elements. While the elements themselves can be seen as simply bits of inert, raw material that operate outside of our subjectivity (granted, only if we ignore the fascinating and strange world of quantum mechanics), that does not stop us from arbitrarily privileging certain elements over others.

Humans are meaning-making beings, attaching significance and projecting our fears and desires onto the natural world. In his 2011 book, Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc, British author and journalist Hugh Aldersey-Williams examines how we’ve given meaning to the elements. Through a wide-ranging collection of historical examples, Aldersey-Williams examines how the elements on the periodic table don’t simply stay on a chart but are rather woven into the fabric of our culture, popping up in artists’ studios, streetlamps, cosmetics, fireworks, and more. Along the way, in addition to learning the history and science of the elements that make up the periodic table, Aldersey-Williams also examines how we’ve assigned specific cultural significance to these elements and integrated them into our everyday lives. 

Overview: 

The book is organized by rough, anthropological categories. Rather than giving a chronological retelling of the elements (either historically or by atomic number), Aldersey-Williams organizes them by their cultural significance. For example, in the first section, titled “Power,” Aldersey-Williams focuses on elements that have been utilized to amass wealth (such as gold, silver, etc) and exert control over other people (iron, carbon, plutonium). He continues organizing the elements by cultural significance, with subsequent sections titled, “Fire,” “Craft,” “Beauty,” and “Earth.” By reclassifying the elements in this way, Aldersey-Williams hopes to shift our perspective on the elements, seeing them as imbued with cultural significance as a result of their physical properties. As such, Aldersey-Williams wants us to see that the elements are not just the property of chemistry labs; rather, “they are the property of us all” (12). 

Throughout the book, Aldersey-Williams gives a quick, snapshot history of the periodic table by highlighting individual elements and how we have attached meaning to them. The book consists of 40 tales, overall averaging roughly 9 ½ pages each. Within each of them, Aldersey-Williams shows the reader how the element was discovered and used within its immediate cultural context, and how the properties of the element shaped how it was utilized. While some elements are consistent in their history (gold signifying value, iron offering strength and stability, etc), others have a more checkered history (such as mercury’s transition from potential cure to poison). Along the way, we watch as Aldersey-Williams attempts to collect the different elements from his travels, hoping to fill his personal Periodic Table. While he is not always successful in procuring some of the rarer and more volatile elements, his avid curiosity and enthusiasm for chemistry and physics shine through in these lighthearted tales. Overall, this shift toward a cultural perspective of the elements is the novel kernel of Aldersey-Williams’s work, as he uses the Periodic Table as a map on his journey to understand the acquired cultural meanings behind the elements. 

Commendations: 

First of all, as a work of popular science, this book is incredibly accessible. It is written in a light and breezy manner, and most of the stories are quite interesting. While there are a few places where the writing drags a bit, it is largely quite fun and informative to read. Especially when combined with the author’s enthusiasm and passion for the subject matter, most of the individual stories within this book keep your attention and are quite entertaining. The brevity of the chapters allows the reader to breeze through the entire book rather quickly, although one can certainly read it casually and at a slower pace in its pre-packaged, bite-sized chapter format.

By far the most interesting aspect of this work is Aldersey-Williams’s attention to how we, as human beings, attach meaning to the elements, which are objective and uncaring about such signifiers. The book’s central idea is to show how these meanings are often just as much a reflection of ourselves as they are about the physical properties of the elements themselves. Within the elements, we find ourselves, as we anthropomorphize them and witness how they evolve alongside us and our needs within a particular era. 

Finally, by organizing the elements according to the cultural values that they signify, this book can serve as a handy reference for writers and researchers who are interested in how the elements are represented in Western literature throughout history. This unique approach allows us to see the elements in a new light and brings up questions of our subjective experience with the elements. We are not separated from the natural world, but rather infuse a wide array of meaning into the basic building blocks of the universe as they also permeate our bodies. This same system of classification, however, is also the largest issue with the book. 

Critique: 

Although the book is roughly organized by cultural categories, the book still seems a little disconnected throughout. Some of the connections to themes such as “power” and “beauty” are a bit tenuous at times, lending to a rather haphazard structure. Since Aldersey-Williams forgoes organizing the book chronologically, the stories jump around greatly in time and location, making any kind of narrative thread pretty difficult to untangle. The book reads like a series of short stories/nifty trivia facts than a cohesive whole. It’s a book of little anecdotes rather than a coherent narrative, and some are well-rounded and focused while others meander and then suddenly end with little warning. 

Aldersey-Williams’s retelling of history and science is quite compelling, yet he often digresses into tangents that detract from the overall thrust of the book. Due to the scope of this project, I understand that each element could only receive so much attention. The stories are also intriguing and told in a lighthearted and accessible style. Yet, the breeziness of the writing and the whiplash that the reader receives jumping back and forth in time makes many of the stories rather unmemorable in the long run. Due to this disconnectedness, instead of reading large, disjointed sections of the book in one sitting, I found it was much more enjoyable to read one small chapter at a time. 

Furthermore, the book is also primarily written for a Western audience, and the history of science that is told is almost entirely European/American centered. Again, due to the scope of the project, this is understandable. Yet, there’s not much new in terms of content. Aside from the introduction of the cultural perspective of the elements (which is not explored with any theoretical or critical depth), this book is not breaking any new ground. Rather, it is a textbook work of popular science, which retells history and scientific discoveries in an accessible and engaging way. 

Conclusion: 

Like the elements that Aldersey-Williams collected in his youth, this book is just that: a fun and accessible collection of stories about the periodic table and the elements that comprise it. I largely enjoyed reading Periodic Tales, but the disjointed nature of the content made it a bit difficult to read in large chunks, and I found my motivation to finish it dwindling as time progressed (although I’m entirely glad I did finish it since Aldersey-Williams’s excursions to the mines of Germany and Sweden offered some interesting avenues for my research and writing). 

Yet, reading a chapter at a time, you will find a fascinating collection of interesting factoids about the ways we’ve used the elements throughout history. As such, I would recommend it as a good bedtime read for those curious about culture, chemistry, and history. If you’re looking for a rigorous academic analysis into the cultural construction of the elements, then you might be a bit disappointed. But if you’re interested in the history of science and want an accessible introduction to the cultural significance of the elements, then this just might be well worth your time.