{"product_id":"elemental-haikuisbn-9781984856630","title":"Elemental Haiku","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA fascinating little illustrated series of 118 haiku about the Periodic Table of Elements, one for each element, plus a closing haiku for element 119 (not yet synthesized). \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginally appearing in \u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, this gifty collection of haiku inspired by the periodic table of elements  features all-new poems paired with original and imaginative line illustrations drawn from the natural world. Packed with wit, whimsy, and real science cred, each haiku celebrates the cosmic poetry behind each element, while accompanying notes reveal the fascinating facts that inform it. Award-winning poet Mary Soon Lee's haiku encompass astronomy, biology, chemistry, history, and physics, such as \"Nickel, Ni: Forged in fusion's fire,\/flung out from supernovae.\/Demoted to coins.\" Line by line, \u003ci\u003eElemental Haiku\u003c\/i\u003e makes the mysteries of the universe's elements accessible to all.MARY SOON LEE is an award-winning poet and fiction writer. She won the Rhysling Award and the Elgin Award, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Her work has appeared in a wide range of venues, including \u003ci\u003eAtlanta Review, Cider Press Review, American Scholar, Spillway\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eRosebud\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as award-winning fiction and fantasy magazines \u003ci\u003eLightspeed, Fantasy \u0026amp; Science Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e Analog.\u003c\/i\u003e Before she took up writing, she had a more analytical background, with degrees in mathematics and computer science from Cambridge University and an MSc in astronautics and space engineering from Cranfield University. Born and raised in London, she has called the United States home for twenty years.I can’t remember what age I was when I first learned about the periodic table, but ever since, it has been both familiar and fascinating. In the periodic table, the elements—building blocks of the universe—are marshaled in order of increasing atomic number (the number of protons in their atoms). Then the elements are laid out in rows (known as periods) and columns (known as groups) that reflect underlying atomic structure. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDmitri Mendeleev, father of the periodic table, devised his first version in 1869. He arranged the elements so that those with similar behavior would line up, leaving gaps in the spots where no known element seemed to belong. A few years later, the first of these missing elements was discovered by Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who named it gallium. Now, one and a half centuries after Mendeleev’s first version, the periodic table contains some 118 known elements, several of them discovered only in the last couple of decades. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne day in December 2016, with no grand plan in mind, I sat down and wrote a haiku for the first of these elements, hydrogen. Hydrogen has an atomic number of one, meaning its atoms contain just one proton, yet hydrogen is part of water and is essential to life: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHydrogen\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Your single proton \u003cbr\u003efundamental, essential. \u003cbr\u003eWater. Life. Star fuel. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving written a haiku for hydrogen, I wrote haiku for helium and lithium, the second and third elements in the periodic table. The next day, I came up with haiku for the next several elements, and the project acquired purpose. Progressing in order through the periodic table, I wrote a haiku for each element in turn. Months later, I reached the end of the periodic table, and added one final haiku for element 119, as yet undiscovered as I write this. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book contains those haiku, together with brief notes on each one. I call them haiku, because I followed a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, and because I tried to capture something of the succinctness, the juxtaposition, the surprise of traditional Japanese haiku. But these are not the tiny, beautifully wrought haiku of Basho or Buson or Issa. There is no cherry blossom to be found, no seasonal references at all. Instead, there are the elements: their chemistry, physics, history. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese\u003ci\u003e Elemental Haiku\u003c\/i\u003e first appeared, without the accompanying notes, in the August 4, 2017, issue of \u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e. They were not the first poetic take on the periodic table, and I hope they won’t be the last. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo close this introduction, here is a poem that I wrote as I neared the end of the periodic table. Unlike the haiku themselves, it’s a longer, less structured poem, reflecting on my experience writing the elemental haiku, my journey through the periodic table. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Periodic Table of Elements \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI set out in December, \u003cbr\u003ealone, ill-equipped, \u003cbr\u003ebut the way clear. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHydrogen, helium, \u003cbr\u003ethe divided couple \u003cbr\u003eof the first row. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen lithium to neon, the second row, \u003cbr\u003eeight names I’d memorized in high school, \u003cbr\u003etheir number, nature, neighbors \u003cbr\u003ewell known to me. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePast sodium, magnesium— \u003cbr\u003ethat old familiar leap across to aluminum— \u003cbr\u003efrom there a quick run through to argon. \u003cbr\u003eThe third row done, so soon. \u003cbr\u003eI thirsted for more, for truth, \u003cbr\u003efor primal facts. Firm. Fixed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePotassium, calcium to the left \u003cbr\u003eof the landmark columns \u003cbr\u003eof transition metals. \u003cbr\u003eThe new year turned. I came to zinc, \u003cbr\u003egallium, germanium, slid on to krypton. \u003cbr\u003eStood at the end of the fourth row, \u003cbr\u003ecaught my breath.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStrangers ahead. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWalked into the eternal expanse \u003cbr\u003eof the fifth row, its rules ordained \u003cbr\u003eby the powers that underpin the universe. \u003cbr\u003ePhysics. Chemistry. \u003cbr\u003eThe gods. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRubidium, strontium,\u003cbr\u003ethe leaders of the fifth row. \u003cbr\u003eYttrium, zirconium, niobium, molybdenum. \u003cbr\u003eThe milestone of technetium: first of the radioactive elements, \u003cbr\u003etheir atoms randomly transmuting, \u003cbr\u003ebut their own original character \u003cbr\u003econstant as the prime numbers, \u003cbr\u003ecertain as arithmetic. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJanuary almost complete \u003cbr\u003ebefore I reached xenon, \u003cbr\u003ethe fifth row’s right anchor, \u003cbr\u003enoble, steadying, sure. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRow six. \u003cbr\u003eCesium, barium, \u003cbr\u003ethe lanthanides lined up \u003cbr\u003ebeneath the main table. \u003cbr\u003eTheir electron configurations, \u003cbr\u003eisotopes, melting points, temperaments. \u003cbr\u003eWhat we learn alters us. \u003cbr\u003eWhat we choose to learn.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI spent February in the company \u003cbr\u003eof the thirty-two members \u003cbr\u003eof the sixth row.\u003cbr\u003e Rhenium, osmium, iridium. \u003cbr\u003ePlatinum’s deep treasure. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarch now, \u003cbr\u003ethe seventh row ahead of me, \u003cbr\u003ethe final partial revelations of humanity’s hard-won knowledge. \u003cbr\u003eElements summoned in laboratories, \u003cbr\u003enuclear reactors, particle accelerators \u003cbr\u003eby acolytes attempting to answer \u003cbr\u003ethat which had never \u003cbr\u003ebeen answered. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeneath, \u003cbr\u003ebeyond a door we have not opened, \u003cbr\u003ethe oracle of the eighth row","brand":"Ten Speed Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304211075301,"sku":"NP9781984856630","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781984856630.jpg?v=1730756638","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/elemental-haikuisbn-9781984856630","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}