Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: "You got a new book? What is it?" my roommate asked. "It's called 'The Periodic Table,' by Primo Levi. He was an Italian Jew who went through Auschwitz." I had just gotten the book in the mail; that was all I knew about it. Later, she interrupted my reading. "You keep laughing. That book is supposed to be funny?" I knew why she was surprised. Levi led a serious, sometimes troubled life, but "The Periodic Table" isn't limited to seriousness. It's fascinating and often funny to read his stories about his early obsession with matter (and the trouble it caused), his fiction inspired by alchemists and elements, and his anecdotes from a professional double life as a chemist and writer.
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Summary: perfect beauty and unbearable pain
Review: A friend of mine, recommending this book to me, said "The first chapter was kind of boring, but I kept reading, and at some point I realized that it was just ... beautiful." It is.
Rating: 
Summary: fascinating
Review: A rather laid back style of writing in a very conversational approach. The aspect of his holocast experience is very fleeting and somehow I would have wished for a bit more insight. From a scientific aspect, one has to appreciate his ability to solve problems, sometimes with minimal equipment. He clearly is a survivor, not just from his Auschwitz experience, but his ability to forge an existence when others were losing theirs. The first chapter put me off, wondering where this would all lead. Then, it took hold and was delightful to read. The periodic table relates to how he labels each chapter. The chemistry involved is really that of problem solving and insights and the ability to dig deeper. One will not need to fear learning a lot about chemistry per se, but will learn about an approach. It is a light read of a fascinating person. In many ways, it shows the importance of connections; one cannot exist without others. There are many lessons to be learned in this book. It also tells how science was taught and practiced in the 1930's through the post war period. I would hope that people would not leave the book thinking that is how is is still done, although the ability to solve problems still remains in the forefront.
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Summary: Life - in all its forms
Review: Beautiful tale of life - from atoms of carbon to common threads that bind humanity. The author considers the book more history than autobiography or scientific tale. It's a bit of each - impassioned vignettes written in engaging prose, snapshots of a life and times, chemical mystery. I'm not a "science person" but I read this book in one setting and loved it.
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Summary: There is Beauty in Simplicity....
Review: Chemistry was never my favorite subject. Nor was the Holocaust. Yet Levi manages to bring these two seemingly unrelated topics together in a novel that I can only begin to hope I fully understand some day. The title "The Periodic Table'" is both a misnomer, and extremely appropriate for the book. Divided into chapters, each of which are titled as the name of a different element, Levi uses the Periodic table as a grounding point for his essays, and each element as a grounding point within the chapter. The coldness of iron, the smell of sulfur, and the journey that a molecule of carbon takes. Levi, whose formal training was as a chemist, relates these simple atoms to a much more complicated--and tragic picture. This book knocked my socks off. The strength of this work lies not within his description of the Holocaust; he acknowledges that he already dealt with that in his work, "Survival in Auschwitz"; but in the simplicity by which he portrays such a complicated time.
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Summary: Short story gems from a brilliant writer
Review: Frankly, the problem with most great writers is this: outside of their craft, they don't have a life. They look down their noses at us and treat us like pathetic ants, often with no insight into our lives and our work. Here then is Primo Levi, on one hand, an accomplished chemist, on the other, someone who lived to speak of the Death Camps. This experience allows him to write the twenty one gems in "Periodic Table". Each one of these stories crystallizes around a seed element. The seeds form the basis for a detective story into the chemical mystery of a failed paint, an ancient plumber's life ruined by lead, and work in a chemistry lab inside Auschewitz. Levi has a dramatic literary style built for the short story. His writing is pithy and to the point. He builds the stories to encapsulate and expose a single core idea. Each one is about something, entering into the experience of one of the millions of people who lead lives worthy of examination. Hey look, I'll help Amazon sell a book here, how much does it say you'll pay for it, $9.00 maybe? If you have a scientific bent, you'll surely find the stories here entertaining and interesting. Primo Levi was a unique person and that, coupled to his excellent style, makes this book a very good read.
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Summary: surprising
Review: I bought and read this book some time ago but some passages were so good they are still fresh in my memory. This story is both unexpected and very engaging. I believe he was a wise man. Primo Levi is on my all-time top 100 list of people I wish I could have met.
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Summary: Extraordinary book
Review: I chose this for my book club to read and I was seriously disappointed that only a few people actually read it, because I think it's the best book we've done so far. Levi's prose is exquisite while remaining amazingly unsentimental. This is not primarily a novel about chemistry, or the Holocaust -- it's about humanity. The book can easily be enjoyed on several different levels -- if for some reason the exemplary writing doesn't grab you, the stories will. A tremendous work of art.
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Summary: One of the great books of the 20th century
Review: I first read The Periodic Table in a college course on 20th century Italian literature. Since then I have reread it perhaps a half dozen times. Parts of it -- the chapter about Sandro, for instance, and the last chapter -- I have reread many more times than that. It is such a great book -- such a clear-eyed, deeply felt, wide-ranging look at the human cost of Fascism and the Holocaust -- that anything I could possibly say about it would be idiotically trite. All I can really say, in honesty, is that I think it is one of the greatest books ever written. In any language. In any century. On any topic. Having never read it in translation, I have trouble imagining how a translator could capture the poetry and the rich literary resonances of Levi's deceptively simple writing style. It is the kind of writing where you read sentences over again, sometimes aloud, just for their rythm and sound. However, friends who have read it in English say the translation is excellent. Even if it weren't, it's a book no thinking person should go without reading. It has a beauty and a gripping quality that goes far, far beyond style. Just read it. Unlike most books you hear this about, it REALLY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
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Summary: The only book that explains man's passion for matter
Review: I found this book on the shelf of a famous bookstore. It was the only copy they had. The title is intriguing, at least to me, because I am a student of chemistry. This book is very profound and entertaining at the same time. I have never heard of Levi before, nevertheless, the first impression he gave me through his "Periodic Table" was remarkable. Somehow he understands one's passion for matter, for chemistry in particular. I guess 'understand' is an understatement. His vast knowledge of chemistry came alive with his real life experiences.
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