Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z guide to the elements by John Emsley,
Oxford University Press, £18.99, ISBN 0198503415
DOES the thought of a re-usable laxative appal you? Your ancestors weren’t
put off. Pills of antimony metal were sold in the Middle Ages: of course, they
went straight through. And forget the stories about the royals being
blue-blooded. Spiders, octopuses, snails and oysters are the true blue
bloods—because their blood contains copper instead of iron.
John Emsley bills these memorable tales as “elements of surprise”, adding an
intriguing new slant to the periodic table in his A-Z guide to the…
