Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything

This book is really clear and easy to follow. It is also very entertaining - not at all what you expect from a book on this subject. Perhaps people who have studied chemistry at school would not find it useful, but for me, who never studied the subject, I thought it was excellent, and inspiring.

Very good

Another excellent book in the series, well illustrated in lovely colour, My Grandson 12 loves , he has learn t so much already without really trying, he even answered questions from University Challenge,which I might add he was not watching just walking through the sitting room...my Daughter asked how he knew all the answers and he said " from the book Grandma bought me " that says it all !!

Nice book

I bought all 3 in the set. Fabulous books for those who love science

A good science book for my grandson.

Brilliant and informative for old and young. More pictorial than definitive with an interestingly amusing style from the author. A very nice table-top book. A good match with 'Elements' by the same author.

Great book as an introduction to science , mainly chemistry , although a basic understanding of chemistry is helpful in fully enjoying this book . Good illustrations/photographs and text .

+So in my review of The Elements, I stupidly suggested that the book was a great example of why e-books weren't going to replace physical books any time soon. Well we know how that turned out (the fully interactive Elements app on iOS is breathtaking and undoubtedly many times more popular than the book). I'm sure Touch Press is about to release Molecules as an iOS e-book app too [Update: they did], but I'm still really glad I got the physical book. "The Elements" and "Molecules" look very similar, but there are some subtle differences due to the difference in their subjects. The Elements was primarily a beautiful picture book and catalog of all the elements. But that made it somewhat more abstract since most of us rarely interact directly with more than a handful of elements, and their atomic nature is less a part of every day experience. The text was mostly interesting trivia for each element. Molecules on the other hand moves up a layer from atoms to molecular compounds, and as such it comes a step closer to our daily experience. The Elements was a book you mostly looked at, but Molecules is a book you'll want to READ since it's jam packed full of interesting and useful information about the chemistry of nature and human industry. It's still just as lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced as The Elements, but there's much more depth here because the author is not compelled to cover "all" of anything as was the case in the earlier book (where honestly there are a lot of pretty boring or obscure elements). Amazon's "Look Inside" feature lets you see what most of the book looks like if you want to see examples of the topics covered, but it does a good job of covering (in an interesting and visual way) both the chemistry of how atoms become molecules and then the properties of various molecular species, as well as numerous higher level applications and what sort of molecules we experience through our senses (color, scent, taste, etc.) as well as those with biological applications (painkillers for example). A great gift for a child or anyone about to begin their study of the sciences, especially chemistry. It's a book with a very high signal to noise ratio, one that will leave you feeling smarter after you read it. G.

Excelentes ilustraciones y comentarios. A cualquiera que le guste la química, la bioquimica o la naturaleza le encantará el libro.

Estou satisfeita

This is one AWESOME book. As a pharmacist, and someone who loves science and chemicals, I appreciate the work that Theodore Gray has done of adding cool tidbits and stories about these different compounds. Technical (but not daunting) in some areas and just plain jaw dropping in other, his style of writing is witty, pertinent, and makes you want to read more. I got his other book (elements) as well and can highly recommend it too!

It had all the necessary information in a wonderful book.