I read of a book called "The Periodic Table" by Primo Levi over at sciencebloggers.com. Anyone familiar with it?

No. How about a review?

I haven't read it, only read OF it over at scienceblogs.com . Anyway, I couldn't help myself.

I went out and bought it for my eldest girl who is convinced she wants to be a chemist. Anyway, she's only just looked at the cover and browsed the first story - and is already convinced she's going to like it.

Here's a few sites that mention it:
http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2006/10/the_best_science_books_redux.php
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1927916,00.html

I haven't read it but sounds interesting. Found a couple of reviews you may be interested in:

http://dannyreviews.com/h/Periodic_Table.html

http://readers.penguin.co.uk/nf/Document/DocumentDisplay/0,,P000100000011,00.html

I read "Voyage of the Beagle" years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. A much easier read than "Origin".

Terry, you might like this site.
A new website is now available that has the full-text of Charles Darwin's original works. The first six editions of The Origins of the Species has been scanned in and is available for viewing at

http://darwin-online.org.uk/

This site also has the transcribed notes from Darwin's Beagle notebook as well as a comprehensive collection of his manuscripts. Many of the works are also available as mp3 files broken into 50kb parts.

~samwik

...and speaking of Darwin, E. O. Wilson's new book, "Creation," looks real good.

Check out some reviews at:

http://www.amazon.com/Creation-Appeal-Save-Life-Earth/dp/0393062171

~samwik

Hey Samwik, that Darwin site looks real interesting. Could spend days there. Thanks for that. I've actually got a sixth edition (1872) copy of "Origin". "The Voyage of the Beagle" is an easier read though. His adventures and observations make for a good yarn.

Re. the other book. The hard part will be getting the people it's aimed at to actually read it!

He he; yep! Could we mail a copy to trilobyte? ~samwould

Would DA let us?

You can send TB anything you wish ... including antibiotics ... I hear TB is a communicable disease.

DA. It is strange we haven't heard from him lately. Not that I'm complaining mind you.

Maybe he's finally wised up and moved on. Probably thinks he won the debate. I don't miss him a bit.

The group's collective refusal to play his game was what it took to remove the troll from under the bridge.

What I find most fascinating is that that particular point-in-time heralded the departure of not just one troll; but several. And none has returned since.

Makes me think they were connected. I'm not a strong believer in coincidence. Perhaps now we can build a bigger, larger, and more science-related following.

I actually caught him lying regarding a quote on the site "360 million year-old lamprey fossil found". Mind you he seems to have given up on us bfore then so he probably didn't read my accusation. We could hold it in reserve though.

Back to Books. Evolution? Extinction? "Song of the Dodo" by David Quammen is a must read. I had dinner with then Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit when he was down here in American Samoa in 1995, and HE had read it.

Too bad we don't have anyone leading this country, today, that knows how to read a book.

DA. But will a democrat president make much difference? I'm old enough to remember Vietnam very well. I was at university at the time. My brother was one of the few NZers to fight there.