Rating: 
Summary: Worth Re-Reading
Review: This is an outstanding book if you are very interested in both history and science. Some earlier reviewer were disappointed in not finding more information about chemistry, but it's not a chemistry book, it's a history book. A better book about the elements, including each specific element and how each was discovered, is "A Guide to the Elements" by Stwertka. This book is about the history of chemistry, culminating in Mendeleyev's realization of the periodic table - the "order" in the chemical world that people had been looking for. It's not a book about Mendeleyev, but about his dream, which was every Chemist's dream. Hence, the title Mendeleyev's DREAM. Strathern has a great grasp of history and an unusual ability to condense complex historical events into just a few sentences. This helps the reader understand the context within with various events take place -- extremely important. The reader who already has a grasp of some basic world history will get more out of this book, however. I particularly liked how Strathern describes the various characters with warts and all. It makes it so much more fascinating! They are complex people with ambitions, phobias, superstitions, arrogence and so on. The lives of these people are stories in and of themselves, and Strathern makes these stories both readable and believable. I often found myself shaking my head in amazement and/or amusement. There were some complaints in earlier reviews about Strathern spending too much time on Medieval and Ancient times. I didn't think that was a problem at all. I found it all very interesting, then again, I'm interested Ancient and Medieval History. I think it's important to learn what went on prior to modern science, back in the days of alchemy and elixers. It makes modern science look pretty good. After I was done with the book I found myself picking it up over and over again, re-reading various passages, still shaking my head in amazement.
Rating: 
Summary: This Dream is a Romp
Review: While -Mendeleyev's Dream- leaves somthing to be desired as history, it is the most entertaining review of the development of alchemy, and later chemistry, from Thales and and Empedecles who postulated the basic Elements to Mendeleyev. His review of emerging science during the Dark Ages, Middle Ages and the Renaissance introduce us to a wild cast of characters. Nicolas of Cusa, Giordono Bruno, who almost aced Galileo out of the job of teaching mathematics at Padua to Hook, Newton, Priestley and LaVoissier. His description of how Joseph Priestley invented seltzer water and discovered that pure dephlogistated air (aka Oxygen) gave a cheap harmless high is worth the price of the book. As a History 3 stars, as entertainment 10!
Rating: 
Summary: Where are the Elements?
Review: While I did enjoy reading this book, I found its subtitle, "Quest for the Elements," rather misleading. It IS a fascinating history of all science from the perspective of chemistry. After the prologue, however, elements are not mentioned again until page 178 out of 294, at the end of Chapter 7, and not discussed in any detail until chapter 8. I was disappointed because the subtitle and the dust jacket led me to expect more focus on the history of chemistry itself, rather than ancient the Greeks and Arabs who preceeded chemists, or the polical and social intruigues surrounding men who had minimal impact on the science. If you are expecting a book about the discovery of elements or the impact of the periodic table, this is NOT it. Paul Strathern and/or his publishers should have come up with a more appropriate title. I am a PhD chemist who loves to read, and I have found that my science is severly underrepresented in the popular literature (both books and magazines). This book does not help to fill the void.
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