Theodore Gray's Elements Vault: Treasures of the Periodic Table with Removable Archival Documents and Real Element Samples - Including Pure Gold!

This book is an excellent companion to "The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe". I'll openly admit I never really understood (not really) the periodic table until Theodore's books. Now, the re-grouping of the elements into their columns and discussion of the commonalities of each group provides more insight to the overall "pattern of behavior" of the periodicity of the elements. This book provides a higher level description of the groups (columns) of the periodic table, while the previous book marches through the table, one element at a time. As for the samples: They are great! It may seem "gimmicky" to adults, but my children were fascinated to see and touch actual element samples - especially the gold leaf which was carefully inspected, then returned to its protective paper and cardboard envelope. Visual and tactile! Yet *another* dimension of interest that makes the elements come alive. And the easy-breezy tone makes it such a pleasure to read. These additions really do make the book feel like a "vault". The "historical documents" are a little bit klunky and "blah" though - they could have made them "pop-up" or "fold out" style rather than envelopes with sheets of paper in them. If you had to choose only one of the two books, the original "Visual Exploration" is probably the better choice. Once you have that, though, this book is an excellent "and that's not all!" addition to your science library. I am glad we have both. THANK you Theodore Gray for making science come alive!

I have always been fascinated by the elegance of the elements and the way they are arranged in the periodic table, but as a lay-person, struggled to understand them. Theodore Gary's wonderfully colourful book will explain in simple terms, the wonderful properties of each element, with their history, characteristics and uses. You will find yourself saying "Wow, I always wondered about that". This book is an excellent addition to your library - especially for young scientists, or eccentrics like me whose main aim in life is to actually construct a "periodic coffee table" with all the elements displayed on the table under glass. (Mission impossible, but it's fun trying). You will find it a great reference book too! Would highly recommend.

This has samples of gold, really, gold, some boron related product (like play doh) and others that make it a useful tool in teaching children about the elements. There are some other samples, like pictures that you can handle to show and tell about the uses of elements in the past and present. My little one, (2 and half at this writing) wants to look at the book a few times a month. She is wowed by what this book and related Theodore Gray books have to offer. Great teaching tool for all ages and anyone interested in building knowledge about the elements.

This review is aimed at the armchair scientists and "fans of science" who are concerned that this book looks like a gimmick, full of "pockets" and "real gold", more of a coffee table book than something educational. I bought this book on the strength of Gray's last book, and am glad I did. Picking up where Theodore Gray's The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe left off, this is an excellent addition to your reference library. Not only does it contain new information on some key elements (and new photos), but most importantly it focuses more on the table itself. The last book focused on the elements with a little bit about the structure of the table. This book focuses on the relationships on the table, how elements in the same column or section are related. In fact, while his last book was organized by atomic weight, this one is organized by element group (roughly by column). In "The Elements", right after reading about the Alkaline Earth Metal Magnesium (12), the next element is Aluminum (13), an ordinary metal. In "Elements Vault", Magnesium is grouped with other Alkaline metals like Calcium (20), Strontrium (38), and Barium (56). I smiled when I saw this key organizational difference as I had bookmarked "The Elements" so I could walk down the columns instead of across the rows. Gray has done that for me in this book. In fact, he goes so much further, explaining the physics and chemistry behind the periodic table, with a healthy dose of well explained quantum mechanics. The treasure of this book is not the penny's worth of gold leaf, but the well explained science that would require wading through college level textbooks to have distilled. This book does not replace "The Elements" as "The Elements" had an entire page for each element, with crystal structure, atomic emission spectra, and state of matter. This book has large pages on some elements, and others have barely any description. In fact, man-made elements on gets 2 pages in The Elements Vault. In fact, the book lacks an index so it can be hard to look up a single element. The book is designed to be read front to back, or used as a reference based on family, such as Lanthanides and Actinides rather than Europium and Thorium. If you do want emission spectra, all of them are placed side-by-side on a beautiful fold out poster in the back. So why 4 stars for a book for which I have such effusive praise? It's the "vault" aspect of the book. In my mind, it is a gimmick that makes the book harder to read. There are 10 full page envelopes that contain a single sided 8.5x11 inch piece of single sided text on card stock. Why not make this information a page in the book, instead of making it a "document" I have to remove to read and then put back? There are a few smaller document pouches, with things like an ad for 7-Up with lithium, an obituary for the purveyor of radium water, a postcard from Utah's copper mine, and others. Real elements include zirconium (cubic zirconia), gold (a sheet of insanely delicate gold leaf which is impossible to inspect without breaking), europium (luminous paint), flourine (teflon), and boron (silly putty). Without the vault gimmick, the book is well worth the price here for the information contained within. In fact, I may just de-vault the book, put the loose pages in a binder, and make it a regular book. I have to deduct a star for this technical aspect, but the information contained within makes it well worth buying so I do heartily recommend it.

It is gorgeous. Be careful to read instructions about gold leaf carefully, mine blew away! 😢 Beautiful colors and images.

What a great book! It really makes learning about the elements of the periodic table fun and interesting. It doesn't go so in depth that it will bore you, but gives you many of the key facts and info you need to know. The archival documents are extremely interesting and the sample elements are a nice touch! Can't wait until my kids are old enough to share it with them.

We waited weeks and weeks for this, and then were very disappointed when it came. The "physical objects" were mostly just pages of information that might as well have been included in the book pages. There was a zirconium, which was good. I realize we can get our own samples of, say, copper, aluminum and iron. But I had hoped for a small piece of silicon or sulphur. Silly putty for "Boron" -- really? There is some gold foil -- open it very carefully. I'd recommend a larger warning about how to open the gold foil envelope, maybe put the warning on the actual envelope that contains the foil. The copy of a postage stamp with Marie Curie's picture on it … a copy of Tom Lehrer's funny song "The Elements" … a copy of an old ad for 7-up that promotes "lithiated soda" -- okay, but not really what we were looking for here.

This is a great book for anyone that has even passing interest in science or chemistry. It has answered many questions that I have had for years and illuminated many usefal facets of the elements. It has helped me understand and make better choices of what processes and materials that I select for my projects. Highly recommend. Also highly recommend his other book elements.