One of the core scientific studies, chemistry helps us to understand the world around us. Studying matter, analysing its structure and grappling to understand what happens in chemical reactions, chemistry can cover some fascinating topics.
But equally, chemistry isn't always the easiest subject to understand. Delving into complicated subjects, and requiring an intimate knowledge of the periodic table, there can often be a high ceiling to understand even the basics of chemistry.
Luckily, there are plenty of great chemistry books out there, aiming to make its key ideas and concepts easier to understand. Whether that's through pictures, stories or simple hard facts, we've listed the best chemistry books available right now below.
The Disappearing Spoon
Originally published back in 2010, The Disappearing Spoon has become a classic for anyone interested in chemistry.
Telling the stories of how the elements of the period table were discovered, The Disappearing Spoon blends real-life discoveries with stories of mystery and intrigue, making learning more fun.
It handles complex theory in a comfortable way, turning chemistry into a fairly easy concept to understand.
The Elements: A visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe
The periodic table is both one of the most important principles of chemistry and one of the hardest to wrap your head around. The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe aims to make this topic easier to understand.
Applying elements to everyday objects, this book looks to make the periodic table more understandable. It works through each element, one by one, explaining the history, future and everything in between.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
If you don’t want to dive directly into a heavy text on chemistry’s deepest concepts, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie could be a good entry into chemistry.
This piece of fiction details an eleven-year-old who is an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. After finding a dead bird on their doorstep, the girl goes on an investigation into the world of poison, discovering the chemistry behind a host of murders and deaths.
With details on the chemistry of poison and key elements, this is an easier, albeit slightly darker way into the world of chemistry.
Lessons In Chemistry
Selling millions of copies, securing bestseller positions and now, having a movie in its future, Lessons In Chemistry is a book you’ve likely heard mentioned before. While its connection to chemistry is slightly looser than some other books on this list, it is a good starting point.
This piece of fiction follows chemist Elizabeth Zott. Forced to resign from her position at the all-male team at Hastings Research Institute, Zott signs up as the host of a cooking show.
Her approach to the show and cooking, fuelled by scientific understanding attracts a large following and a group of women who want to change the world.
Oxygen: The Molecule That Made he World
Oxygen is one of the most important molecules, we all know that, but how much do we actually know about it and its history and importance? Nick Lane dives into this in his book Oxygen: The Molecule That Made The World.
Addressing Oxygen’s history, Lane explores oxygen’s role in everything from the death of the dinosaurs through to our evolution and how we age.
It is in essence a deep dive into the single molecule of oxygen, spanning its entire history and really detailing how it changed the world.
It's Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry in Everything
Chemistry is active in our everyday experiences. Anything from the coffee you drink in the morning to the way your shampoo can make your hair look greasy. If you want to know more about everyday chemistry, Kate Biberdorf’s It’s Elemental is a great place to start.
The book breaks down everyday examples of chemistry, breaking it all down in an easily digestible way for any level of knowledge in the world of chemistry.
Stuff Matters
Material science can be a fascinating topic, giving insight into the way the materials around us are made and interact.
Mark Miodownik's book Stuff Matters takes a deep dive into this world. He examines everyday objects in our homes, and questions what the objects of the future will be.
Not just a book of chemistry, this delves into a wide array of sciences, making up the objects that we use on a daily basis.
Understanding Quantum Science
While a lot of the books on this list explore chemistry through stories, or light-hearted explanations of a single idea, this is a somewhat deeper text, aimed at preparing you for a study of quantum chemistry.
Exploring a range of theories in quantum science, this concise text explores the world of small particles, delving into the micro-world of quantum science. It is designed to make these concepts as easy to understand as possible.
This text can be used to simply gain an understanding of a complicated topic, or to build the groundwork for a longer study of the world of quantum science if applied learning is in your future.
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