Philip Ball is a science writer and a consultant editor for Nature, where he was formerly an editor for physical science for over 10 years. He writes about all areas of science for the international press, and has broadcast on TV and radio. His previous books include Designing the Molecular World, The Self-Made Tapestry, H20: A Biography of Water, and Stories of the Invisible: A guided tour of molecules. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford University and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He lives in London, where his Homunculus Theatre Company occasionally performs on a shoestring budget.

Ball is one of the most prolific and imaginative of contemporary science writers. He has plenty of attitude, boasts a fine knowledge of visual art and a literary sensibility, and his science is encyclopaedic.

• 1. Aristotle's Quartet: The elements in antiquity ; 2. Revolution: How oxygen changed the world ; 3. Gold: The most desirable element ; 4. The Eightfold Path: Organizing the elements ; 5. The Atom Factories: Making new elements ; 6. The Chemical Brothers: Why isotopes are useful ; 7. For All Practical Purposes: Technologies of the elements ; End notes ; Futher reading