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Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table
A graphically stunning, comprehensive introduction to the chemical elements that make up our universe for ages 8-14
This artful and accessible guide to the periodic table — the ultimate reference tool for scientists worldwide — names all 118 chemical elements and helps young readers understand the remarkable ways we have learned to use them.
Graphically stunning layouts feature each element's letter symbol and atomic number, exploring its attributes, characteristics, uses, and interesting stories behind its discovery. Complete with a comprehensive introduction, conclusion, and glossary, this is the perfect introduction to chemistry for inquisitive minds.
Wrapped in a double-sided jacket, with the illustrated periodic table printed on the underside, Exploring the Elements is jam-packed with 240 pages of information, including:
– A comprehensive introduction explaining what elements are and the design and purpose of the periodic table
– Each of the 118 elements is visually presented with its respective letter symbol and atomic number, as well as a map of where it’s located in the periodic table
– Additional details showing where each element is found in the universe (from food on our plates to the center of a star), its unique properties, atomic diagram, secret chemistry, and working examples of how it’s used or changing the world
– Plus an index, glossary and suggested reading and additional references and Resources
Both a gift book and a practical book, Exploring the Elements is for teachers and librarians, parents and grandparents, the home bookshelf and classroom bookshelf, science enthusiasts and budding scientists of all ages.
This artful and accessible guide to the periodic table — the ultimate reference tool for scientists worldwide — names all 118 chemical elements and helps young readers understand the remarkable ways we have learned to use them.
Graphically stunning layouts feature each element's letter symbol and atomic number, exploring its attributes, characteristics, uses, and interesting stories behind its discovery. Complete with a comprehensive introduction, conclusion, and glossary, this is the perfect introduction to chemistry for inquisitive minds.
Wrapped in a double-sided jacket, with the illustrated periodic table printed on the underside, Exploring the Elements is jam-packed with 240 pages of information, including:
– A comprehensive introduction explaining what elements are and the design and purpose of the periodic table
– Each of the 118 elements is visually presented with its respective letter symbol and atomic number, as well as a map of where it’s located in the periodic table
– Additional details showing where each element is found in the universe (from food on our plates to the center of a star), its unique properties, atomic diagram, secret chemistry, and working examples of how it’s used or changing the world
– Plus an index, glossary and suggested reading and additional references and Resources
Both a gift book and a practical book, Exploring the Elements is for teachers and librarians, parents and grandparents, the home bookshelf and classroom bookshelf, science enthusiasts and budding scientists of all ages.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 18, 2020
16 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 21, 2026
Yes indeed, what Isabel Thomas (words) and Sara Gillingham (images) provide with their 2020 Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table (with Thomas using a clear and engaging text and Gillingham featuring nicely colourful, minimalist artwork, basically digitally created illustrations that mirror what is being verbally presented but do not thankfully ever visually overpower either) an utterly delightful and wonderfully educational illustrated guide to the periodic table and as such to all of the 118 discovered (that is known to date) elements. And with Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table being suitable for readers from about the age of ten or so onwards, while Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table has in fact been conceptualised and presented by Isabel Thomas and Sara Gillingham with a juvenile readership in mind, well, text and pictures are in my humble opinion also something that teenagers and adults wanting a basic introduction should equally so enjoy and find enlightening (that for me personally, if a book similar to Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table had been available when I was taking chemistry in senior high, in the early 1980s, I would definitely have both appreciated this and would also have found the subject considerably easier and much less academically taxing, much less frustrating).
Now in the informative, nicely basic but also more than sufficiently informative introduction to Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table, Isabel Thomas showcases the elements, describes how they are the building blocks of everything (both on earth and beyond), explains what chemistry represents and is as a discipline, as a science and then finally briefly points out the periodic table (which Thomas calls an important map, telling chemists and other scientists where to look when they are trying to answer a question, invent a new material, or solve chemistry related problems). And in the chapters following the introduction for Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table (and based on categories that gloriously group similar elements together), Isabel Thomas then gives to most elements of the periodic table a two-page spread, with the first page showing and describing the element’s atomic diagram, key properties, main sources alongside with several paragraphs regarding history, characteristics and the second page presenting Sara Gillingham's images of the element’s significant forms such as for example gemstones for aluminium (since rubies and sapphires are aluminium oxide crystals), milk for calcium and also practical uses, such as fireworks for strontium as well as for rubidium and zinc for galvanised steel (but while ALL of the 118 elements are featured and described in Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table, a few of the less common ones do have shorter sections, are thus only one page or sometimes even just half a page in length).
So with basic but informative words (and an infectious enthusiasm for science and the scientific method), absolutely excellent organisation, a very nice introductory bibliography featuring online sources as well as books and a visual palette based in primary colours (thus red, yellow and blue), Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table portrays and explains the complex information that is chemistry and the periodic table of elements in a simple (but never ever simplistic) both verbally and visually appealing manner, with the combination of what Thomas' text and Gillingham's artwork provides being solidly five stars for me, very very highly recommended (and that I also appreciate and celebrate Isabel Thomas pointing out in Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table how our electronic devices rely on so-called rare earth elements and that their scarcity is turning out to be not only an issue of availability but also creating political strife).
Now in the informative, nicely basic but also more than sufficiently informative introduction to Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table, Isabel Thomas showcases the elements, describes how they are the building blocks of everything (both on earth and beyond), explains what chemistry represents and is as a discipline, as a science and then finally briefly points out the periodic table (which Thomas calls an important map, telling chemists and other scientists where to look when they are trying to answer a question, invent a new material, or solve chemistry related problems). And in the chapters following the introduction for Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table (and based on categories that gloriously group similar elements together), Isabel Thomas then gives to most elements of the periodic table a two-page spread, with the first page showing and describing the element’s atomic diagram, key properties, main sources alongside with several paragraphs regarding history, characteristics and the second page presenting Sara Gillingham's images of the element’s significant forms such as for example gemstones for aluminium (since rubies and sapphires are aluminium oxide crystals), milk for calcium and also practical uses, such as fireworks for strontium as well as for rubidium and zinc for galvanised steel (but while ALL of the 118 elements are featured and described in Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table, a few of the less common ones do have shorter sections, are thus only one page or sometimes even just half a page in length).
So with basic but informative words (and an infectious enthusiasm for science and the scientific method), absolutely excellent organisation, a very nice introductory bibliography featuring online sources as well as books and a visual palette based in primary colours (thus red, yellow and blue), Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table portrays and explains the complex information that is chemistry and the periodic table of elements in a simple (but never ever simplistic) both verbally and visually appealing manner, with the combination of what Thomas' text and Gillingham's artwork provides being solidly five stars for me, very very highly recommended (and that I also appreciate and celebrate Isabel Thomas pointing out in Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table how our electronic devices rely on so-called rare earth elements and that their scarcity is turning out to be not only an issue of availability but also creating political strife).
March 14, 2021
Isabel Thomas and her illustrator, Sara Gillingham, have forged a handy reference book for teenagers (not children.) The book is well organized, explains the periodical table, breaking it into manageable sections. There is a great deal of information packed into this colorful book: fun facts, how elements got their name, how they are used or impossible to find in nature, etc. However, after awhile, things begin to blend together (not the elements), but the facts and details become overwhelming.
April 29, 2021
Amazing!!!! Where has this book been all my life?! The DETAIL! Even the inside of the dustjacket is printed (periodic table, what else?)!
March 5, 2021
I wish I'd had this during my high school chemistry classes. At the time, I felt as if I'd been thrown into the stoichiometry deep end with only the vaguest of conceptual life rafts. The way this book breaks down how elements are related and connected to each other...how they were discovered and what they're used for...even the brief mention at the end of why elements are reactive/non-reactive and how they bond with other elements...all of this would've been a welcome conceptual framework as I began diving deeper into the subject.
There are a few typos and some entries where the symbols describing the element contradict the text (e.g., the symbol indicates the element is a strong conductor while the text says it's non-conductive), but overall, this is a vivid, engaging, and very thorough introduction to the periodic table and the elements. It made me want to try a chemistry class again...maybe this time it wouldn't feel as if I were beating my head against a brick wall.
There are a few typos and some entries where the symbols describing the element contradict the text (e.g., the symbol indicates the element is a strong conductor while the text says it's non-conductive), but overall, this is a vivid, engaging, and very thorough introduction to the periodic table and the elements. It made me want to try a chemistry class again...maybe this time it wouldn't feel as if I were beating my head against a brick wall.
September 27, 2023
Superfin oversikt over alle grunnstoffene i periodesystemet! Litt om historien og de fysiske egenskapene og mye om bruksområdene i dag og i fremtiden.
April 26, 2025
molto utile, mi ha fatto sapere molte più cose sulla chimica 🧪
February 3, 2024
This is an excellent and very thorough book about all of the elements on the periodic table. Kiddo (almost 10) LOVED it. I personally found it interesting but rather dry, but kiddo swore it was an excellent bedtime story.
Most of the elements get an entire page dedicated to them, with paragraphs of text about their historical uses and properties and discovery. Toward the bottom of the periodic table it turns to having a few per page and they each get a paragraph or two.
Like I said it is very dry and you have to really be a science nerd to love it I think, but if your kiddo does love science then I highly recommend it.
Most of the elements get an entire page dedicated to them, with paragraphs of text about their historical uses and properties and discovery. Toward the bottom of the periodic table it turns to having a few per page and they each get a paragraph or two.
Like I said it is very dry and you have to really be a science nerd to love it I think, but if your kiddo does love science then I highly recommend it.
December 14, 2020
Multiple award-winner, many accolades, I can say this in one cool book kids in STEM and chemistry will LOVE!
If this book had been available when I took chemistry... I may have liked chemistry a tad bit more! #ExploringTheElements @Phaidon #InteractiveBooks #STEM #ChemistryLove #BookLove #ElementLove @ChildressInk #GiftBooks #TeacherGifts #Holiday2020
If this book had been available when I took chemistry... I may have liked chemistry a tad bit more! #ExploringTheElements @Phaidon #InteractiveBooks #STEM #ChemistryLove #BookLove #ElementLove @ChildressInk #GiftBooks #TeacherGifts #Holiday2020
July 31, 2023
Great "coffee table" book for non-chemists, though oversimplified. Covers all 188 known elements and includes a basic explanation of the period table, electron structure, and bonding. Colourful and accessible enough that older kids who love science might love it. Found a couple slight errors, but then, this is definitely not a rigorous science book.
March 9, 2021
This book is AWESOME!
I did not have any chance to study elements and chemistry in school, so I found this a fascinating and easy-to-understand intro. Visually appealing and informative--highly recommended!
I will read this again for sure.
I did not have any chance to study elements and chemistry in school, so I found this a fascinating and easy-to-understand intro. Visually appealing and informative--highly recommended!
I will read this again for sure.
June 24, 2022
Good breakdown, where a lot of things either make sense, or where you start understanding where to look for answers. There probably are some things that could be explained better, but this format and length is practical and not overwhelming.
June 30, 2021
Super informative!
August 10, 2021
Fun. I read every word, believe it or not. Things have certainly changed since I sort-of learned the periodic table 30 years ago. lol
August 18, 2023
This is a fantastic and engaging way to get kids interested in chemistry. Wonderful info graphics. I was so impressed
August 13, 2024
Beautiful graphic design. I learned a surprising amount too.
April 7, 2021
This book is very informational and has great resources for introducing students to chemistry and the periodic table.
did-not-finish
August 20, 2021Gorgeous reference book. Cleared up some very basic confusion I have about chemistry (VERY. BASIC. my chemistry education is 1 class, 20+ years ago, that I can safely say went totally over my head).
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews