Full name: The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus

Author: John Emsley Year: 2000 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Science, History, Non Fiction, True crime Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780471441496 047144149X

The incredible "glowing" history of the "Devil's element "phosphorus Discovered by alchemists, prescribed by apothecaries, exploited by ninth-century industrialists, and abused by twentieth-century combatants, the chemical element phosphorus has fascinated us for more than three centuries. It may even be the cause of will-o'-the wisps and spontaneous human combustion! Now John Emsley has written an enthralling account of this eerily luminescent element. Shining with wonderful nuggets-from murders-by-phosphorus to a match factory strike; from the firebombing of Hamburg to the deadly compounds derived from phosphorus today-The 13th Element weaves together a rich tableau of brilliant and oddball characters, social upheavals, and bizarre events. Similar books: Napoleon's Buttons by Penny Le Couteur Mendeleyev's Dream by Paul Strathern The Elements of Murder by John Emsley Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams Plutonium by Jeremy Bernstein The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager Science by John Gribbin The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean The Jasons by Ann Finkbeiner The Scientists by John Gribbin Molecules by Philip Ball Great Feuds in Science by Hal Hellman Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery by Isaac Asimov Nature's Building Blocks by John Emsley The Periodic Kingdom by Peter Atkins A World on Fire by Joe Jackson The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum Blood Work by Holly Tucker The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee