--- product_id: 5001837 title: "The Periodic Table" price: "Rp789433" currency: IDR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.id/products/5001837-the-periodic-table store_origin: ID region: Indonesia --- # The Periodic Table **Price:** Rp789433 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Periodic Table - **How much does it cost?** Rp789433 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.id](https://www.desertcart.id/products/5001837-the-periodic-table) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In this literary masterpiece, one of the twentieth century’s most significant writers reflects on his life before and after the Holocaust, merging the scientific and the humane into a profound “work of healing” ( New York Times Book Review ) • Fiftieth anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Rivka Galchen As a youth, Primo Levi became fascinated by the laboratory, a site where the mysteries of the material world are unlocked and substances reveal their deepest truths. In this graceful, vital book—originally published in Italian in 1975—his passion for chemistry spans his extraordinary life story, with each chapter’s theme anchored in a different element of the periodic table. Beginning with his childhood in Italy’s Piedmontese Jewish community, Levi narrates his years as a student and fledgling scientist, before the descent of World War II, when he fought as an anti-fascist partisan until his arrest and transportation to Auschwitz. After surviving captivity, he returned to his work as a chemist and as a writer, striving in both realms to transmute matter into meaning. An artistic masterpiece of the highest order, The Periodic Table champions the power of friendship and curiosity to transcend times of tyranny and testifies to the fundamental interconnectedness of all the stuff of the universe—including us. Review: Elements of living - The Periodic Table is a remarkable analysis of units of living, making a living and re-living. It is a series of essays, each regarding a specific element in the periodic table which is a springboard for digressions on their surprising roles in the world of the author and for metaphors about the relationships that matter to us as human beings. The lyrical quality of Primo Levi's prose comes through its elegant translation and each essay stands well on its own but together they build an observatory of human experience well worth being shared It transports the reader to times and places of significance which are conducive to sober reflection and understanding. A great read. Review: Funny, poetic. - This book does not disappoint. The device of the periodic table is loose rather than restrictive. It is structured as a series of tales or short stories, unusual for a novel, but is unified by the persona of the chemist, as he moves through people, places and things he has known and studied. There are few references to the holocaust, as this has been fully addressed in his other novels, but he states that the writing experience was healing for him. Read it for its language if for nothing else, it is rightly celebrated. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #63,312 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #28 in Italian History (Books) #252 in Author Biographies #1,865 in Memoirs (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 653 Reviews | ## Images ![The Periodic Table - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81JEMzEXipL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Elements of living *by F***R on June 11, 2021* The Periodic Table is a remarkable analysis of units of living, making a living and re-living. It is a series of essays, each regarding a specific element in the periodic table which is a springboard for digressions on their surprising roles in the world of the author and for metaphors about the relationships that matter to us as human beings. The lyrical quality of Primo Levi's prose comes through its elegant translation and each essay stands well on its own but together they build an observatory of human experience well worth being shared It transports the reader to times and places of significance which are conducive to sober reflection and understanding. A great read. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Funny, poetic. *by G***M on May 6, 2014* This book does not disappoint. The device of the periodic table is loose rather than restrictive. It is structured as a series of tales or short stories, unusual for a novel, but is unified by the persona of the chemist, as he moves through people, places and things he has known and studied. There are few references to the holocaust, as this has been fully addressed in his other novels, but he states that the writing experience was healing for him. Read it for its language if for nothing else, it is rightly celebrated. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Intriguing *by B***D on May 12, 2015* Primo Levi, similar to Elie Wiesel, is so closely associated in my mind with The Holocaust, and Holocaust literature, that I was surprised to find that in THE PERIODIC TABLE, Levi rarely touches on it directly. And yet, as a memoir of his life as a chemist both before and after Auschwitz, the entire book is freighted with the knowledge of his time in the camps; similar, perhaps, to a biography of a man born with a serious birth defect, and how this background knowledge forces the reader to reevaluate the simple tasks of living that he'd previously taken for granted. Simultaneously, as a part of Levi's entire oeuvre, I also had the feeling that THE PERIODIC TABLE was a statement, an affirmation by Levi, who HAD become associated so closely with The Holocaust, saying, in effect, `I am not Auschwitz. I am a chemist.' Regardless, as others have noted, THE PERIODIC TABLE is a collection of stories--some true and some fiction, and each tied to one of the elements of the Periodic Table by some detail in the story. For instance, the first chapter, titled `Argon', contains a brief explanation of the group of gases that Argon belongs to--The Noble Gases: "There are the so-called inert gases...They bear curious Greek names of erudite derivation which mean `the New,' `the Hidden,' `the Inactive,' and `the Alien.' They are indeed so inert, so satisfied with their condition, that they do not interfere in any chemical reaction, do not combine with any other element, and for precisely this reason have gone undetected for centuries." Levi then goes on to interweave anecdotes about the Jewish community he knew growing up as a child in Italy, and one quickly picks up on the association between the Noble gases and this community. Most of the rest of the stories are not quite so allegorically tied to the elemental heading, though there always remains a hint of it. The early chapters I thought were dense and philosophical, which surprised me for some reason, though I either grew accustomed to Levi's style, or the stories became more straightforward as the book went on. I also found that after the initial pages, I thought the book captivating--which, again, given the episodic nature of the stories, was surprising. The long and the short of it is that, although I expected to enjoy the book, I enjoyed it for none of the reasons I suspected I would. It is not an easy book to categorize. Part fiction, part memoir; little direct mention of The Holocaust, and yet the book is entirely infused with it--I hesitate to call it unique, but I do think it stands apart. A very intriguing book. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Periodic Table: A Memoir (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series) - If This Is a Man and The Truce - Survival In Auschwitz (Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.id/products/5001837-the-periodic-table](https://www.desertcart.id/products/5001837-the-periodic-table) --- *Product available on Desertcart Indonesia* *Store origin: ID* *Last updated: 2026-05-30*