The Periodic Table

Can I give 10 stars to a book? As a sucker for good style, I'm amazed at how clean and beautiful the language of this book is (I read it in Italian, so I cannot say how good the other translations are). I love when a book is able to marry great content with innovative structure to generate a timeless exercise of style. As a technology guy (not a chemist) I'm fascinated by how unapologetically geeky Primo Levi gets into this book, while transmitting a never boring enthusiasm for his work. As a person who has already read “If this is a man” I marvel at the fact that a single person was able to write two masterpieces in his lifetime and that they are so different from each other. One of the most original pieces of art I came across. Primo Levi is now up there with my other heroes and he makes me feel proud to have been born in the same country as him.