Guus Bosman

Many years ago a book by Primo Levi the famous Holocaust Survivor. I've always remembered it as immensely beautiful what I had forgotten though is that he was also a chemist The book I'm reading now in preparation for our trip to Turin is called the Periodic Table. His background as chemist plays a big role.

The book is, once again terrifically beautiful, and obviously while the background of his life is very sad, the stories themselves are often hopeful. One fun thing is to see the frequent bicycling and trips by bicycle in the book. I especially liked the fictional story around lead. Later there is a chapter around corporate bureaucracy, which was recognizable. Page 161 said: "...the frightening anesthetic power of company papers..." and had a fun story about why there is a slice of onion in the preparation of commercial in linseed oil.

After the House on the Hill this was the second book I read about Turin.