If there were ever going to be a book (besides Moby Dick) that I wouldn’t like, The Elements:  A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe (Black Dog and Leventhal 2009) by Theodore Gray, would probably be it.  Come one–the periodic table?  All I remember from school about it is that I had to memorize an awful lot of element names, numbers and symbols and then try to balance them in equations.  Ugh.

Fortunately, Theodore Gray opens up much more in this exploration of, well, everything.  First off, the color pictures are amazing!  Not only does he show the elements in their pure (if possible) and natural (when it occurs naturally) states, he also includes photos of a variety of applications–some legitimate and some not so much.  Read it, and you’ll see what I mean.  Just because some old product claimed to contain radium doesn’t mean it actually had any–and that’s a very good thing.

I didn’t expect to find myself laughing out loud as I read about the elements, either, but I did on more than one occasion. I found myself amazed, shocked and thoroughly entertained while reading.  Did you know that that there are only three metallic elements that are not some shade of silvery gray?  They are copper (reasonably priced, but tarnishes over time, gold (doesn’t tarnish, but costs much more) and cesium.  As Gray explains, its “main disadvantage of cesium as a metal for jewelry is that it explodes on contact with skin.”  I definitely think some of my students (8th grade boys, in particular, come to mind) will enjoy Gray’s focus on explosions and deadly metals.  (Warning:  Do not try this at home when you read about the reaction of sodium and water).

If you want to learn more, you can check out Gray’s expanding collection of elements at The Periodic Table.   The pictures are astounding.

I loved the movie The Blind Side, and I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t even know there was a book until long after I watched it. (Shame on me.)  Once I discovered that Michael Lewis had written a book first, I knew I wanted to read it, and now I have.  I do think the movie did a good job of capturing the book, but the book can go into so much more detail.  Here are some of the things I loved about this book:

• I was delighted to discover that some of my favorite scenes from the movie are straight from the book and honest-to-goodness true events from Michael Oher’s life.  Yes, he picked up an opposing football player and carried right off the field and almost to the bus.  Yes, SJ asked football coaches what was in it for him–season passes, locker room access–and the coaches delivered.
• I am even more impressed with the drive and courage shown by Michael Oher to show up and stick it out at Briarcrest.  The gap between where he started academically and where he ended is hard to imagine, but he never gave up.  I am also inspired by the teachers who didn’t give up on him.  Can I remember to look for that potential in each of my students?
• I enjoyed learning more about the Tuoys and why they so quickly took Micheal into their lives.
• I am not a football fan, and know almost nothing about it, so it was a challenge to read through the sections on football history, theory, and statistics.  It is a credit to Michael Lewis that I read those parts and learned something:  Bill Walsh changed the passing game while coaching the 49ers.  Lawrence Taylor threatened quarterbacks on the blind side and increased the importance of the left tackle position.  Lemming created his own job from his passion of evaluation high school football players.
• Again, I was impressed with how Michael Oher combined things he couldn’t control (his size and shape) with things he could (constant practice to improve his speed and agility to be the next Michael Jordan) to be ready to succeed even when his circumstances would have said to give up.

Now I want to read Michal Oher’s story in his own words.  Anyone want to lend me their copy of I Beat the Odds?