At the most fundamental level we are all made up of the same component parts, in different ratios and differently organised, but still the same basic ingredients.

Everything we can see, touch, smell and taste can be expressed in terms of 92 naturally occurring elements and a handful of man-made ones. That such a staggering variety of things can be created from a limited number of building blocks is mind blowing and reassuringly simple at the same time.

The elements in the periodic table, like us, are an extended family - some old, some newborn, some shy and reticent, some exuberant or unreliable. Physical and behavioural traits run through the periodic table, but each member is still an individual with their own unique way of being.

This book tells the stories of 52 of those elements: tales of discovery, inspiration and revolution, from the everyday to the extraordinary. This book is a keyhole to the curious lives, histories and personalities of some of the members of the periodic table's family tree.