What chemical element is named after goblins? How many times has technetium been “discovered”? What are "transfer wars"? Why did even pundits once confuse manganese with magnesium and lead with molybdenum? What happens if you eat half a microgram of tellurium? Are there radiation sources in our apartments and offices? Answers to these and other questions can be found in Arkady Kuramshin’s new book “Elements: The Wonderful Dream of Professor Mendeleev.” The stories of the discovery, the appearance of the name, the most interesting properties and the most unexpected areas of application of one hundred and eighteen building blocks of the universe - from hydrogen, the key element of our Universe, to superheavy elements obtained in the amount of several atoms. Both those who have known and loved chemistry for a long time, and those who just want to take their first steps in it, will find something interesting and useful for themselves in the book.