Jewish LearningWorks’ 4th Annual ONE BAY ONE BOOK: The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

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One Bay One Book is:

A yearlong conversation reaching Bay Area adults through opportunities for lively Jewish learning. Stimulated by a selected book and its themes, the program connecting readers through discussions, events, and informal conversations.

On the bookshelf for 2015-16: The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

The 2015–2016 selection, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its publication, is Primo Levi’s complex and beautifully rendered book, The Periodic Table. Levi, who was a chemist by profession, uses the elements as a frame for stories of his life in the Jewish community of Turin, his work with the Partisans, and some extraordinary experiences during and after the War.

Defying categorization, The Periodic Table is a pioneering work in its creative approach to memoir; it is the winner of the Royal Institution of Great Britain’s survey as the greatest science book ever written, and it is an invaluable record both of Levi’s life and of the experience of Jews in northern Italy