This book, told in a breezy anecdotal style, partakes of the happy midcentury attitude that science is uplifting for everyone. It tells a series of stories about different elements in the periodic table--their discovery or invention, their uses, their dangers. You'll have to decide on your own if that sounds like fun or a chore. Having given it a try, I enjoyed the way the author used themes to weave his miscellany together loosely. For example, one chapter deals with the use of different metals for money, ending with a description of how europium is used as an anticounterfeiting measure in Euro notes. Another deals with trickster materials, like fool's gold and titanium, which can mesh with human bones.

I managed to avoid high school chemistry entirely, thanks to a series of scheduling conflicts, but I had no problem following this author on his various excursions into history because his style doesn't really require the reader to understand why things happen. If you can clean your house without mixing bleach and ammonia, you will be able to enjoy this, but don't expect it to lead you to a deeper understanding of chemistry.