Philip Ball’s latest book is as enjoyable to read as his previous efforts. In The Ingredients: A Guided Tour of the Elements, he introduces the elements historically beginning with Hellenic civilization and ending with 21st century isotopic labeling efforts. This is a particularly succinct summary of the chemistry and physics that we all should have learned along the way, but these topics have never been so clearly and compactly summarized before.

What might be taken at first glance as a book about chemistry is in fact an introduction to matter and the history of our understanding of it. Using a chronological progression, Ball discusses both our increased understanding of the elements and the births of the elements themselves. Thus it is not just about chemistry. Though the historical development of atomic theory is well known to practicing scientists, Ball retells the old story with new detail and enthusiasm that can (re)awaken our interest in the people who wrote the story. He deftly interweaves nuclear physics through the text to explain synthesis of the elements in nature, and brings astronomy to bear in our discovery of the elements as well. The latter part of the text focuses on contemporary uses of the different properties of the elements, and therefore environmental science and biology are brought in quite naturally, as are recent stellar investigations.

The text reads easily and is characterized by the author’s proven skill at describing abstract phenomena in words understood by the lay reader. Chemical and physical characters and nomenclature are gently introduced with nary an equation in sight. The description of the scientists is consistently interesting, and Ball does a marvelous job at fleshing out many of the people one encounters in high school science texts as only a surname. Here they are given historical and geographical, as well as a scientific, context.

No attempt is made to describe each element equally, rather the author has chosen an interesting subset of elements to highlight. Elements that are familiar to everyone—such as oxygen and silicon—are described, and a very clear picture of what makes each element useful or helpful to us emerges. This text is for an even more general audience than Ball’s previous efforts. Readers who have not studied science since high school will find the book quite accessible and a highly informative read. It is particularly valuable as a place where the lay reader can learn the proper meanings of many words used in the popular press and by television news programs, but which are not commonly understood.

With this introduction, every reader will be more informed about the elements, their discovery, and how we have come to understand them. This is a rare text that can contribute significantly to the often mentioned, but rarely seen, more scientific electorate. Ball’s particular talent is to give a non-scientist a good understanding of the details of science, and he does that extremely well here. Those who are practicing physical scientists, including chemists, will enjoy it as well. The Ingredients is much shorter than Ball’s other efforts, but it will be a rare reader who can learn nothing from this book, regardless of the depth of his or her scientific background.