To The Best of Our Knowledge

from Wisconsin Public Radio

Linus has his security blanket. Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks had the Periodic Table of the Elements. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, My Chemical Life. Oliver Sacks remembers a childhood steeped in chemistry. Also, Primo Levi survives Auschwitz, through chemistry. And, Union Carbide's deadly business in Bhopal.

Renowned neurologist and author Oliver Sacks talks with Jim Fleming about his childhood in wartime London and the important role chemistry played in his life. He was comforted by the rigor and orderliness of science, even if his chemistry experiments almost destroyed his house. Sacks' memoir is called "Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood."

John Emsley is the author of "Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements." He tells Jim Fleming lots of fascinating facts about the Periodic Table of the Elements, and why science, and the teaching of science, should be fun. Also, Dominique Lapierre talks from France with Anne Strainchamps about his book "Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster." He says thousands of people died because they fled in the wrong direction.

Carole Angier is the author of "The Double Bond: Primo Levi, A Biography." She tells Steve Paulson that Levi was a brilliant chemist who mined the world of chemistry for metaphors to help him process his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. Levi's memoir of Auschwitz is a classic of Holocaust literature.

Books:

• Carole Angier, The Doubled Bond: Primo Levi: a biography (FSG)
• John Emsley, Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements (Oxford)
• Primo Levi, The Periodic Table (Schocken Books)
• Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro, Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster (Warner Books)
• Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (Knopf)

Music:

• "I Made Something Strange With My Chemistry Set." Jack Prelutsky. A Pizza the Size of the Sun. Listening Library.
• "Remembrances." Schindler's List: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Music composed and conducted by John Williams. MCA
• "End Credits." The Thin Blue Line: Motion Picture Soundtrack.
• Music composed by Philip Glass. Elektra.
• "The Elements." Tom Lehrer. The Remains of Tom Lehrer: Disc 1. Rhino.
  

Distribution dates:

• week of 08/11/2002 - hour 1