The Beauty of Chemistry: Art, Wonder, and Science

This book is a good base for learning and viewing the beauty of chemicals and their reactions thus producing the wonders of Chemistry

I've enjoyed most of Philip Ball's books. He is an author that besides knowledgeable, has a style that makes his books quite enjoyable. I'm a chemist, and I was looking for a book with plenty of beautiful pictures, but I got so much more. His texts, anecdotes, the explanations make this book an advantageous and enjoyable experience.The photographs by Wenting Zhu and Yan Liang are magnificent. After his books, on Patterns and also, on Colors, I was expecting more of that. However, this new book is quite original in the selection of subjects; ten chapters with new scopes on very actual phenomena. If you didn't like Chemistry during your schooling this book is going to open your eyes to the beauty of this discipline. It brings the mesmerizing beauty of the chemical reactions happening on a daily basis around you. If you love Chemistry, you don't have to hesitate about getting this book and discover much more than what you are expecting.

Pretty pictures! Surprised with the author attribution, though. While the image creators are identified, not sure what Phillip Ball has contributed. I have one of Phillip Ball's books on physics and it is excellent, but his contribution here seems minimal.

I buy these books because the images inspire me. The writing is not scientific - it just describes the photos, but I know this guy in other books and don't expect much. The images, however, are splendidly inspirational for me, and I am grateful I have the book to look through again and again over the years ahead

Astonishingly beautiful and colorful representation of the “world of chemistry”!

Interesting pictures. The text is well written and full of information re appropriate history of chemistry.

Excellent book. Visualization beats all expectations.

The Beauty of Chemistry is a beautifully illustrated coffee-table book homage to the artistic side of chemistry. Released 11th May 2021 from MIT Press, it's 392 pages and is available in hardcover and e-book formats.This is an extremely graphics heavy book full of awe inspiring and beautiful photos and illustrations. There are some chemistry concepts included in layman accessible language, but it's not in any way a textbook of chemistry. The text, engaging and erudite, by Philip Ball is worth the price of admission, but it's the stunning illustrations which kept me turning the pages. They are sublime; from the most mundane (CO2 bubbles in a soft drink) to the most exotic, the photos are arresting.Whilst I enjoyed all the chapters (arranged roughly thematically: bubbles, crystals, precipitation reactions, dendritic growth, combustion, electrochemistry, plant chromatism, heat reactions, organic chemistry, and patterns), it was the appendices, and especially the molecule models which I really enjoyed. The molecules were rendered in the space-filling 3D models familiar to every student of chemistry, and the explanations were understandable and informative. Reading and looking at these would make a fun game even for very small children who would almost certainly love seeing them (and learning them) again and again with a willing adult.Because of the colorful photography and graphics heavy format, the hardcover format would be a much better choice than e-book format.Five stars, with the codicil that this is not a textbook of chemistry. It would make a superlative choice for public, classroom, or home library.Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Dieses Buch ist das Schöne von der Chemie.