Henrik Selin has been at Boston University since 2004 and his research and teaching focuses on global and regional politics and policy making on environment and sustainable development. He is the author of EU and Environmental Governance and Global Governance of Hazardous Chemicals: Challenges of Multilevel Management. He is also the author and co-author of more than four dozen peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He also serves as Associate Editor for the journal Global Environmental Politics. Learn more about Professor Selin on his faculty profile.
Selin Interviewed on Top Books on Periodic Table
Henrik Selin, Associate Professor of International Relations and Associate Dean for Studies at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed for a Five Books article in which he discusses his new book – Mercury Stories – and other top books on the periodic table of elements with wife and co-author Noelle Eckley Selin – Associate Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT.
In the article, titled “Best Books on the Periodic Table,” Selin discusses why he chose mercury as the focus of his latest book, the stories outlined in the work, as well as other books that capture the dichotomy of highly toxic elements that are dangerous to human wellbeing but also greatly advance wellbeing.
An excerpt:
One theme in both our book Mercury Stories and all the five books that we’ve chosen is how people have discovered elements and how that has shaped society, but also how society has then shaped these elements, including the way biogeochemical cycles have been altered by human activities. By understanding the elements and how they are connected to each other and to human beings, we get a better understanding of the world around us.
The five books the Selin’s recommend are The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean, The Story of N: A Social History of the Nitrogen Cycle and the Challenge of Sustainability by Hugh Gorman, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore, Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes by Julie Klinger, and The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another by Ainissa Ramirez.
The full article can be read on Five Books‘ website.