The Chemistry of Books

Some of you may know that I studied chemistry academically and still practice that science as an industrial chemist, coupled with my literary life.

I am therefore always interested when my love of chemistry collides with my love of books. Last week a black cloud hung over me when I learned of the passing of Kurt Vonnegut -- who incidentally also studied chemistry at Cornell in 1942. I know that Vonnegut’s work will live on and be remarked upon by each passing generation.

But what about the paper that his words are printed upon?

The Guardian reports today that the application of chemistry is also important in the preservation of books reports:

Chemists will analyse the complex mix of gases released by books at Cambridge University's library, helping them to gauge which titles are most at risk of decaying. The research is designed to help conservators at libraries to spot which books are most in need of preservation.

Primo Levi is another great writer who was also a chemist. Levi passed away 20 years ago, but a collection of some of his short stories not previously published has just been released by Penguin UK this week.

As a treat, The Guardian has published one the works today, “The Death of Marinese”:

No one was killed. Sante and Marinese were the only ones captured by the Germans. It made no sense, it was almost incredible, that, of us all, the two of them had been taken. But the older men in the group knew that it is always those who are captured of whom it is later said “Who would have guessed!” And they also knew why.

When the two were taken away, the sky was grey and the road was covered with snow that had hardened into ice. The truck barrelled downhill with the engine off: the chains on the wheels rattled around the bends and clanked rhythmically along the straight stretches. About thirty Germans were standing in the back of the truck, packed shoulder to shoulder, some of them hanging on to the frame of the canvas roof. The tarp had come loose, so that a thin sleet struck their faces and came to rest on the fabric of their uniforms.

That short story is published here in its entirety.

If you’ve not experienced the work of Primo Levi, may I suggest grabbing a copy of The Periodic Table, a work that helps explain how his love of chemistry helped keep him alive during the hell that was Auschwitz.