Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars for chemists, perhaps 3 for the rest of the world
Review: As a chemistry teacher and previous admirer of Dr. Sack's books, I am just about the perfect audience for this work. And I loved it. The bookis written in his wonderful story-telling style with plenty of footnotes and sidepaths, dealing with the history of chemistry, odd reactions, magentic properties of metals. For me, this is heaven. I must, in fairness, warn those who don't love chemistry, that they probably won't enjoy this book nearly as much as "An anthropologist on Mars" or "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat". Those books dealt with more universally accessible events and behaviors: autism, Parkinson's, blindness and other neurological problems. Most readers will find them more interesting and compelling reading. But if you do fit into the intended audience, this is one of the most fun books I've ever read about chemistry, and, as a chemistry teacher, I've read a lot of them. I learned a whole lot of new chemistry while reading it, and found my own love of the subject growing with each chapter. But as I read some of the negative reviews, I realized they do have a point. There is a lack of a narrative, his motivations are poorly explained, other people do seem to drop in and out without much followup. But for me, none of this mattered. This book was a pure joy to read.
Thank You, Dr. Sacks! robert keil, moorpark college
Rating:
Summary: For anyone who ever made flash powder or built a Heathkit
Review: Dr. Sacks was a lucky man indeed to have grown up in an intellectual and social petri dish of such richness that one can only marvel. A time when people could play piano, set sodium on fire, experiment with electronics and bask in the glow of a talented, extended family. Days of self-sufficiency and unity marred only by WWII German firebombs and the odd cruel schoolmaster straight out of a Roger Waters nightmare. There's no overprotectionism here; Oliver could easily have blown himself up on many occasions, but thankfully his parents gave him the freedom to let his curiosities run their course. By the time you've made it to the end of this book, you'll have learned quite a bit of interesting chemical knowledge, too - enough to long for days when you might be able to order a gram of thallium or a pinch of white phosphorus over the counter!
Rating:
Summary: Sacks ReExplains The Universe
Review: From sodium to radium to quantum mechanics, this basically autobiographical book tells the story of not only Oliver Sacks life between the ages of basically 4 and 15, but also tells the story of his discovery of the world of Chemistry and Physics and of what the world is composed. Sacks starts by describing his life as almost a nightmare of incompassion. Living in wartorn London during the Second World War, his school life was filled with horror and pain. But the young Sacks retreated mentally into a world of mathematics, chemistry and physics. From Fibonacci mathematical series to the history of the building of the periodic chart of the elements, Sacks describes not only the discoveries of chemists from Newton through Nils Bohr, but also his incredible empirical chemical experiments. He reveals some basic chemical facts, known truly only to real chemists, despite what basic chemistry one might have had in school, his revelations are truly breathtaking and amazing in some cases. And as he describes his experiences with life and chemistry, he also tells of the uncertainty that is generated by the search for certainty and stability. While never actually mentioning it by name, he does reference Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which says that one can know either the velocity or the position of an electron orbiting a atomic nucleus, but one can never know both simultaneously. In many ways it was this uncertainty and Einstein's theory of relativity, that in effect says that everything is relative to your particular frame of reference, that made Sacks progress from his fascination with science and mathematics into a new real world of Biology and Medicine. But, although the discoveries of the great physicists of the 1920's introduced tremendous uncertainty, that is, matter is both a particle and a wave, electrons are never totally predictable and radioactive substances deteriorate at a precise rate, whose half life can be specifically determined, but that precision does nothing to predict exactly the fate of any specific atom. Each atom's existence is determined virtually by chance in a radioactive substance and each can last for a fraction of a second or for 100 million years, until the event that causes it to finally deteriorate actually occurs. Those selfsame discoveries do in fact, lend stability to life in their instability. Forever after, Sacks would be influenced in his life by those early experiments and discoveries, as well as what he learned by reading about the discoveries of others. And, even to this day, he still sees the world in terms of those early concepts of chemistry, which so infused his boyhood with meaning and substance. A tremendous work, recommended to anyone who has a curious mind and a yearning for finding the meaning of existence.
Rating: 
Summary: frustrating book
Review: I can usually like a book if I try hard enough, but this one won't even meet you halfway. Descriptions of colors, textures, properties of elements. Descriptions of the containers elements are often kept in. Sacks is clearly enthusiastic though, and I see he has succeeded in passing on his excitement to some other reviewers, but without any enticing hooks or surprises, the book only left me with that "hours of someone else's vacation photos" feeling.
Rating: 
Summary: Chemical memoirs!
Review: I just completed this book and you'll definitely like it if you are(like me) a big fan of Sacks. It's a beautiful narration of scientific explorations by a great mind(himself), coming from a family of scientifically inclined people. I think it'll be a great read for even the younger age groups and get them interested in the beauty of Chemistry. But be forewarned - DO NOT expect anything on the likes of "An Anthropologist on Mars" or his other books - this is more like a small introduction to the fascinating history of chemistry and the many brilliant minds that worked on and solved it's problems. All in all - a great addition to an avid Sacks readers' collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe the hardest kind of book to write
Review: I loved some of the science in Sack's book but the autobiographical part was embarrassing at points.It seemed to me that it's very hard to write this type of book with out sounding like you are bosting of your intelligence. One of the few book's that did pull it off for me, where an intelligent boy tells of his growing up, was Bryce Courtenay The Power of One. In chapter 21 Sacks tells of reading Eve Curie's biography of her mother and how it impressed him. He says "it was no dry recital of a life's achievements, but full of evocative, poignant images" I only wish this book could have been that way for me. I guess I wanted a book that got to my heart like 'Power of One'this book never came close.
Rating:
Summary: Self-Indulgent, Boring
Review: I was quite a fan of "The Man Who..." when I read this book. At least those stories were about people and things other than himself. But, the "Tungsten" chapters are curiously dull and self-congratulatory without knowing it. As a kid, he's so blessedly, bloody interested in chemistry (don't get me wrong: I am too) but then travails us with his terribly elementary and utterly banal chemical trivia. (And get this: The uncle's nickname actually reflects his occupation! Fascinating!) Devoid of charm. Perhaps he should have made his family even more the central focus of the book. Then at least you wouldn't expect to read about science. If you could turn this book into a movie, it might appeal to science-loving sixth graders, but it does not entertain, and is not very scientifically enlightening.
Rating:
Summary: infectious
Review: I will preface this review by saying I am not a scientifically literate person. My educational background is in English and Philosohpy. So I cannot pass judgement on the science, a lot of which was above me (or, should I say, a foggy memory from confused high school days). In any event, what struck me about this book is the passion Mr. Sacks demonstrates for the subject act hand--whether that subject be mixing chemicals together or recalling one of his many aunts and uncles or his immediate family. One rarely encounters prose writers whose passion for their family and their work is so infectious.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be scared off by the science!
Review: I'm a devout fiction reader who usually does not read biographies and disliked science classes growing up, but I truly enjoyed this book. I only wish that some of my teachers could have conveyed even half the magic that Dr. Sacks does when he writes, almost religiously, of the beauty of the scientific world. I've just heard Dr. Sacks speak at a lecture last night in Amsterdam. He seems as warm, witty and curious as little Oliver in the book. Read this book even if you wouldn't touch a scientific WWII autobiography with a 10 foot pole. Trust me...you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A great autobiography, and an even better child-rearing manu
Review: I've given this book to several friends already, especially those with children. Sachs' unique family that he describes in sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant detail, and the little boy nurtured to explore his every curiosity and passion, make this a book to treasure. Part of the enjoyment for me is the contrast between the current paranoid and sterile state of children's upbringing, and the nanny state itself; and Sachs from early boyhood, playing and exploring with chemicals that could have blown his house up, not to mention killed him and others from their very exposure. His portrayal of the growth of his own knowledge and the development of his personal theories, explored and discounted as experiments and more knowledge taught him that no theory should be adhered to for the sake of its beauty, is an aspect of the book that alone, would be its great achievement in the current state of too much 'science' having become the handmaiden of theory. But there is so much more to enjoy here, from the book as a picture of a time in history, to his experience with religion and political activists, to his never-boring talk of science itself, this is an outstanding classic-to-be.
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