Chemistry reading, listening and viewing

Looking for something new to watch, listen to or read now you’ve finished every Netflix boxset? Our Academics give their recommendations for how to get an extra slice of Chemistry this summer, with a list of their top books, podcasts and shows.

Podcasts 

A great way of catching up on the go, we love a podcast. Here are Chemistry related ones for you to check out.

Periodic table podcast

Chemistry world podcast

Radley’s Chemistry podcasts

TV 

If you’ve caught up on all the latest boxsets and are looking for something new to watch why not check out one of our recommended Chemistry, related documentaries:

“Chemistry: a volatile history” on BBC by Jim Al-Khalili

NileRed and NurdRage’s youtube channels provide bite-size chemistry shows.

“What if?” by Randall Munroe – Check out the one hour Google talk on the book topics or take a look at the Webcomic that lead to book.

Books 

If you’re sick of screen time and want to read something a bit different, we have a couple of recommendations.

“The New Science of Strong Materials” by J E Gordon –  beautifully written and very easy to read, and show both how useful simple models are and how they can fail us.

“What if?” by Randall Munroe  – quote its own subtitle, “Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions”.  Dr Ewan Clark explains that “this book manages to be both side-splittingly funny and the best example I’ve ever seen on how to analyse problems like a scientist.”

“Uncle Tungsten” by Oliver Sacks – Dr Emma McCabe describes this as “a popular science book that you might enjoy”

If there’s a Chemistry related book, show or film that you love, why not share it with us? Get in touch with any of your recommendations.