The Disappearing Spoon – Sam Kean

“We are all star stuff, but different star elements and minerals accumulated in different parts of the world."

If you have an interest in the periodic table and what the universe and matter are made of, read this book. If you are already an expert in this department, I'm sure you will still get something out of it. If you are a complete amateur - all the better, it's written in way that anyone can understand and appreciate, and it’s so very informative and interesting.  Packed with information about famous and important scientists since the beginning of time to current time, including political, romantic, tragic, heroic, and triumphant historical shenanigans, TheDisappearing Spoon is as exciting as a novel to read.  I can’t recall every – sometimes jaw-dropping – story and the loads of knowledge because there’s just so much, but below are a few quotes and notes I made along the way. *I apologize if I should add quotes and leave them out in places, I wrote these notes on my phone while lying in bed so that I wouldn’t forget.  The quotes may not be exact.

There is a section about the belief by some how every 26 million years or so, mass extinctions by asteroids or comets happen:  "The goddess nemesis punished hubris. She made sure no earthly creature could grow too proud by striking down anyone more powerful than the gods. The analogy to the sun's companion star was that if earthly creatures evolved towards intelligence, Nemesis would wipe them out before they got traction." -- “The sun is dragged along our spiral solar system, getting closer with time, loosening debris like comets as it gets closer, which may hit earth if we are not saved by planets like Jupiter.”

Another topic is about mining for cell phone minerals in the Congo, and the destructive behaviour that can ensue when wealth pours into a resourceful region.

The biology section was one of the most interesting to me, ESP how viruses invade cell DNA, and how poisonous elements, such as the less talked about cadmium, thallium and polonium, wreck havoc in the body, and how radon causes lung cancer.  Sulphur (like in garlic) prevents bacteria from reproducing by interfering with folic acid production.  Copper and silver are strong antibacterials (money - coins - are mostly made of nickel and zinc and are covered in copper to prevent bacteria from spreading). The gadolinium used in MRIs could be a potential cancer treatment because of its ability to absorb neutrons and become radioactive, producing a "nano-nuke" in the body. However, this element may be toxic to eliminate, if not transformed.  Pasteur's take on life and disease was that disease is caused by bacteria, hormones, and chemicals, etc., but that lab work could not mimic the workings inside the human body. Life is chirality... and side handedness in the smallest life matters (see teratogen drug causing birth defects 1950s, thalidomide). *This last part, chirality, I’m still trying to understand, I have to confess.

Read the excerpt from the website (the wonderful first chapter about mercury).

I wish my review could do this book justice. It really is fabulous.  I loved the writer’s humour, sincerity, detail and intellect.  I look forward to TheViolinists Thumb, and hopefully! more titles down the road.