[.ca] Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules (ISBN 0192803174)

From Amazon.co.uk:
"Molecules", Philip Ball writes in Stories of the Invisible, "are the smallest units of meaning in chemistry", the words, if you will, made up of atomic letters. In this lively essay, full of such useful metaphors, Ball shares his longstanding fascination with the unseen world once again, explaining some of the issues that guide modern biochemistry. Consider a sheep, Ball offers, a congeries of "millions of little bits of sheepness". That animal is a blend of molecules, tens of thousands of varieties of them, many of them found in the grass, sky and water that make up the sheep's environment, many of them shared with other animals and humans. It has been the task of modern chemistry to dissect matter, to tease out underlying structures and commonalities--and, Ball adds, to learn how to make of its constituent elements things that do things, "such as cure viral infections or store information or hold bridges together". How chemistry has done so, making body armour of spider silk and modelling computer networks on "molecular logic", drives Ball's discursive, entertaining, and eminently practical survey. A trustworthy explainer of scientific matters to lay readers, Ball writes with clarity and grace--and the more difficult the concept, it seems, the better. --Gregory McNamee

too dry:
Most readers with an interest in science will be familiar with the ground covered here. Unfortunately the style tends to be too often dry and flat - almost like a textbook.

too dry:
Most readers with an interest in science will be familiar with the ground covered here. Unfortunately the style tends to be too often dry and flat - almost like a textbook.

Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of the Molecules:
Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules written by Philip Ball is about chemistry, but to be more specific, a blend of biochemistry, bioelectricity, molecular biology, molecular chemistry. This book trys, as the author stated, to give chemistry a better overall picture, but the boundries are becouming blurred, even more so when you explain molecular organic chemistry. Now, reading this book, doesn't require a degree in any of these disciplines, but a good grasp of scientific principles helps. The narrative is easily read and is not difficult to read as the author relates to the reader what is happening in industry today. As more and more of the interworkings are understood in molecular chemistry, mankind should be reaping the benefits, making our lives easiler, and making better products. What I fould to be the most intriguing is a molecular chemical computer more on the order of the human brain. Life in the next one hundred years will be very different than life was in the last one hundred years and mankind harnessing the molecules of life will be on the forefront. Nanothechnology is another field addressed in the book. As the author makes a good point, if we can find the tools to manipulate this technology, we pretty much can control everything. All of the subjects within this book are invisible, but with tunneling microscopy, electron microscope, and other tool of the trade, making what was once unseen, now visible. Along with the authors hand drawn art illustrates the point quite well at times. I found the book readable with the caveat... you must have some science orientation.

Enthralling book:
I had a hard time keeping the book down till I finished it. It is written on the same lines as Scientific American, New Scientist, and Nature (from which it draws heavily). Recommended for anyone who wants to find out what protien folding/nano tech, is all about. The next book to folow up would be Nature's Robots. - Mosh http://www.cs.albany.edu/~mosh

Another great science read from Philip Ball:
Ball does a great job of leading the reader from a non science background into the scientific with easy use of lyric and literature. The illustrations help to make the biochemistry vivid, and easy to understand. Ball's prose is clear and informative, while avoiding the dry lecturing tone of many text books. Toss the text and read this.