Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (or just Uncle Tungsten) is a memoir by Oliver Sacks about his childhood published in 2002. The book is named for Sacks' Uncle Dave who owned a business named Tugstalite which made incandescent lightbulbs with a tungsten filament. Uncle Dave was called Uncle Tungsten as a nickname. Uncle Tungsten was still fascinated with tungsten and believed it was the metal of the future. The book also talks about many other things that happened to Sacks, like the many whippings in Bradbury, the burning down of the Crystal Palace, his chemical lab, and his short-lived obsession with coloring his own black and white photographs using dangerous chemicals. It is also an extremely readable primer in the history and science of chemistry.