John Emsley

I am chemist by trade and when I saw this book pop up on Amazon Vine I thought I would get it and give it a read. It is a fascinating book. Anyone interested in chemistry, forensics, or even poisons would find this book fascinating; you don't need a technical background.

This book covers 5 poisons found in nature and 5 man-made poisons. Each chapter is very nicely structured and goes through how the poison was discovered, how the poison affects the human body, what remedies there are, and show more then goes through a case study where the poison was used to murder someone. In some chapters there are sections that give statistics on the number of poisonings with a given poison and how many of these are accidental.

The only parts that might require some technical knowledge are the chemical descriptions of the poisons and how the poison reacts with the enzymes (or whatever) in the human body. Even these parts of the book are presented in such a fashion that someone without a depth of technical knowledge gets a lot out of them.

The book is very well-written. I was worried this would be more of a dry technical read but it wasn't. I was sucked in right from the beginning and had trouble putting the book down. I really, really enjoyed it.

This is not something you would want to use as a handbook for poisoning because for the majority of cases the poisons go wrong and/or the poisoners get caught. My husband did want to know exactly why I need to read a book about poisons. I told him it was in self-defense :-)

Overall a great book. I will definitely keep an eye out for more books from this author. A colleague of mine actually heard John Emsley do a talk on forensic chemistry at an American Chemical Society meeting; supposedly he is also a great speaker. show less

John Emsley's Vanity, Vitality, and Virility is a crash course in consumer and medical chemistry. He examines many spheres of everyday life -- including makeup, drugs, plastics, and food -- to get a deep look at the chemistry at work. At some points, yes, I did start to glaze over when each chemical was listed and each of their interactions with the human body was laid out, but overall, with multiple re-readings, I might start to retain a lot of the chemistry here. I learned at lot more show more about chlorinates than I expected, to name one. Emsley does well to go through the actual history of the science conducted to delineate the good, bad, and ugly about corporate chemistry. Very refreshingly, he ends with a plea to young scientists to come and help in the field, and that can't be bad at all. show less

This booklet was written to accompany the Channel Four TV series 'The Elements'. Since 1991, when this booklet was writen, a further nine elements have been found; so, it is not totally up to date; but not 'out of date' as the short history and general descriptions are correct for those that are listed. What makes this booklet valuable I think is the inclusion of specially commissioned poems by poet Roger McGough for the elements: carbon, gold, iron, mercury, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur and show more Meitnerium (then only known as element 109). The blend of stuffy science and whimsical poetry make this something unique and potentially place it in the hands of people who would not otherwise glance twice at the periodic table. Beautiful. show less

Poisons are among the favorite weapons of mystery writers, if not murderers. Guns may be quicker, but poisons have a cachet that you really can't beat. On the other hand, murder by poison has become increasingly dangerous - to the perpetrator! Despite the fact that incredibly small amounts of certain chemicals constitute a lethal dose, resourceful forensic scientists have pushed the limits of quantification to even smaller values. It is amazing that a person can be killed with only show more micrograms of a few substances (think about what a microgram would look like), but even more so that they are always detectable in a corpse. "Molecules of Murder" recounts some of the most infamous murders by poison in a style that will appeal to chemists and students of chemistry. While he does not provide chemical structures for the toxins (so as not to put off the non-chemical reader), skilled science writer John Emsley [author of other Hal's Picks in November 2001 and July 1998] deftly describes the murders and the murderers in a case-by-case style that never speaks down to his audience. show less