In the spirit of <EM>A Short History of Nearly Everything</EM> comes <EM>Periodic Tales</EM>. Award-winning science writer Hugh Andersey-Williams offers readers a captivating look at the elements?and the amazing, little-known stories behind their discoveries. <EM>Periodic Tales</EM> is an energetic and wide-ranging book of innovations and innovators, of superstition and science and the myriad ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language. It will delight readers of <EM>Genome, Einstein?s Dreams</EM>, <EM>Longitude</EM>, and <EM>The Age of Wonder</EM>.  <BR>