Building Blocks of the Universe by Isaac Asimov

First published: 1957

Subjects: Science

Type of work: Science

Recommended Ages: 13-15

Form and Content

Isaac Asimov’s Building Blocks of the Universe is a compendium of facts suited to introducing the subject of chemistry to young readers. The book is divided into twenty-three chapters, each dealing at length with one element and in most cases more briefly with related elements. The first element covered is oxygen, because of its commonness on earth and its critical importance to life. The last chapter is devoted to uranium and the other unstable elements. The intermediate chapters are ordered based on such considerations as the element’s familiarity, commonness, significance to life, relation to elements already covered, and position on the periodic table.

The periodic table is used as a tool to organize what could otherwise appear to be disparate information. It is described in the introduction, and a version containing atomic numbers but not the names of the elements is reproduced at the beginning of the book. Another version, containing only the names of the elements, is printed at the end. The two versions serve to highlight the structure of the table and emphasize how the elements fit. Each chapter heading contains a simplified periodic table that includes only the atomic numbers relevant to that chapter. For several elements, Asimov describes the historic usefulness of the periodic table as a means of predicting the existence of unknown elements that were later discovered.

Each chapter is an account of interesting characteristics of an element or group of elements. Asimov generally describes the element in its natural state, notes the temperatures at which the element changes its state, lists other elements with which the element commonly reacts, and describes the nature of those reactions. He often deals with the way in which atoms or molecules combine—the nature and strength of the formation and the consequences of these characteristics. For example, in the chapter on carbon, Asimov briefly explains why the carbon atom is so important to life. He also describes each element’s discovery (if it has not been known since antiquity) and its use by and effect on human beings.

Asimov expands the vocabulary of the reader by introducing and defining many terms necessary to an understanding of chemistry. The first time that he uses a new term, he presents it in italics and immediately defines it. He allows the reader to absorb the new information by not providing background material unless and until it is needed. In this manner, Asimov presents an extensive set of scientific words in this introductory text, including “element,” “molecule,” “compound,” “allotrope,” “electrolysis,” “acid,” “base,” and “amalgam.”

The style of the book is clear, simple, and informal. Asimov often writes in the first person and addresses the reader directly. To bring a point home, he occasionally offers personal anecdotes and calls upon readers to consider likely experiences from their lives that are germane. The book offers many cross-references, as well as a detailed index.

Critical Context

Building Blocks of the Universe was one of a series of books on science for young adults that Isaac Asimov wrote for Abelard-Schuman. The series had a significant effect on Asimov’s writing career. When publisher Henry Schuman approached Asimov in 1953 about writing science books for teenagers, Asimov was a successful science-fiction writer, as well as a professor of biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. In both endeavors, he believed that he had gone as far as he could go. He was looking for something that would take him further, and he found Schuman’s suggestion very attractive. In retrospect, Asimov considered the first book that he wrote for Abelard-Schuman, The Chemicals of Life (1954), as the initial step toward the greater success that he eventually achieved as a prolific writer of nonfiction books for the nonspecialist. The success of these and other books allowed Asimov to become a full-time writer in 1958.

The book is now dated, both by the discovery of new elements since the 102 mentioned in the book and because of the occasional expressions of old-fashioned gender stereotypes. Asimov went on to write many more up-to-date books on science for the layperson—a dozen more in the fields of chemistry and biochemistry alone. In its time, however, Building Blocks of the Universe was widely read. Abelard-Schuman published a revised edition in 1961, and Cadmus Books published a special hardcover edition in 1965. The book was available in mass-market paperback editions from Lancer through the 1970’s. In 1958, the book earned an award from the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation.

Bibliography

Goble, Neil. Asimov Analyzed. Baltimore: Mirage, 1972.

Gunn, James. Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005.

Hassler, Donald M. Reader’s Guide to Isaac Asimov. Mercer Island, Wash.: Starmont, 1991.

Moskowitz, Sam. “Isaac Asimov.” In Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction. Cleveland: World, 1966.

Olander, Joseph D., and Martin H. Greenberg, eds. Isaac Asimov. New York: Taplinger, 1977.

Patrouch, Joseph F. The Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.