The Wonderful Life of Elements may just be the most beautiful chemistry book I’ve read in, well, ever.

For anyone with even a sniff of an interest in chemistry Bunpei Yorifuji has created a book of pure joy. And for those who have only ever held a chemistry text by accident this book may just grab their attention long enough to show them what the rest of us see in the subject.

First up you are treated to a lovely introduction to chemistry and its relevance, including illustrations of the elemental composition of the Universe, the Sun, the Earth and your living room. But this is just the B-movie, because the main event is the wonderful personifications of the elements.

Each of the 118 elements are beautifully drawn with features that relate to their characteristics: Gases are wispy and ghost like, the liquids’ legs are flowing away and solids are bipeds. Whilst the newly discovered elements are depicted as babies and those with a longer history are old and bearded.

Each element has a page or two of additional cartoons that describe it uses and other characteristics. All of which make for a fascinating collection of drawings.

Then to cap it all off there’s a equally lovely poster of the periodic table.

The Wonderful Life of Elements is available from Amazon, but I’d urge you to pay a little more and get it directly from the publisher, No Starch , that way you get an electronic copy in your email box whilst you wait for the hardcopy to arrive.