When Dmitri Mendeleev first published his table of elements in 1869 (picture), only 60 of these were known. One group in particular was absent, namely the inert gases.  Now you may have heard this song:

"All these gases are inert
  Helium, neon, argon.
I’ll sing this song until it hurts
  Krypton, xenon, radon." **
What are the best new astronomy books?  I just got asked this question, and thought I'd hit up all you Bloggies for your opinions.  I'll also make sure to check with publishers at the ongoing 215th AAS Meeting to get their recommendations, and post updates as they arrive.

My recommendations so far would be:

1) Laika, by Nick Abadzis (2007)
After Top Gun, the number of fighter pilot recruits exploded. After CSI took over the country, more people went into forensic science. The lesson? Media definitely makes a difference in the level of interest of a topic - An Inconvenient Truth, anyone? - so perhaps getting authentic, real-life science out in front of viewers could inspire a whole new flock of scientists and engineers to fill the growing deficit in our workforce.