Arcade Publishing 20100209 eng

GCDS-9781559707619 03 01 Arcade Publishing 01 GCOI 55970100942100 02 1559707615 03 9781559707619 15 9781559707619 BB 1 A01 Peter Macinnis Peter Macinnis, a science writer, has also been a teacher and museum educator. The author of 20 books for adults and children, including <em>Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar</em>, he has appeared on radio and television in his native Australia. He now works for an online encyclopedia and lives in Sydney. 01 eng 01 Poisons permeate our world. They are in the environment, the workplace, the home. They are in food, our favorite whiskey, medicine, well water. They have been used to cure disease as well as incapacitate and kill. They smooth wrinkles, block pain, stimulate, and enhance athletic ability. In this entertaining and fact-filled book, science writer Peter Macinnis considers poisons in all their aspects. He recounts stories of the celebrated poisoners in history and literature, from Nero to Thomas Wainewright, and from the death of Socrates to Hamlet and Peter Pan. He discusses the sources of various poisons-from cyanide to strychnine, from Botox to ricin and Sarin gas-as well as their detection. Then he analyzes the science of their action in the body and their uses in medicine, cosmetics, war, and terrorism. With wit and precision, he weighs such questions as: Was Lincoln's volatility caused by mercury poisoning? Was Jack the Ripper an arsenic eater? Can wallpaper kill? For anyone who has ever wondered and been afraid to ask, here is a rich miscellany for your secret questions about toxins. 02 A wide-ranging and provocative look-teeming with little-known facts and engaging stories-at a subject of the direst interest. 08 Macinnis ranges widely and rather light-heartedly in investigating the uses and misuses of poisons . . . and delivers his carefully researched material in a series of anecdotes crafted with dry humor and informed ruminations. Macinnis describes with zest the effects of legal and illegal poisons on humans and animals. . . . Engrossing. Publishers Weekly 08 An entertaining potpourri about poison: anecdotes, history, lore, science, and trivia . . . Macinnis has fun with his deadly subject, giving the reader a glimpse of famous poisoners and their victims, a bit of the science of poisons and their detection, and a brief survey of the uses and abuses, intentional and accidental . . . Poison, it seems, is everywhere-in us and around us-and is even essential to life. . . . Great fun to read. Kirkus Reviews 08 An unusual and informative trek through poisons and poisoners real and fabled throughout history . . . Entertaining . . . Informative and attractive. Ripperologist 08 A book that seasons history with a good pinch of character and storytelling. Financial Times 08 Fascinating and erudite . . . Painstakingly researched, <em>Poisons</em> uses history, science, and fun poison facts to make lively reading of all things lethal. . . . Witty. Boston Sunday Globe 08 <em>Poisons</em> would have been the Adams family's favorite bedtime reader. . . . This book keeps a delightful mix of chemistry and anecdotes written in a light hearted humorous manner. . . . Fascinating. Books-on-Line.com 08 <em>Poisons</em> provides a blend of vignette, history, and lively case histories. Bookwatch 08 A surprisingly breezy jaunt through history's great poisons and poisoners . . . <em>Poisons</em> supplies an arsenal of fun dinner party facts. . . . It's an effortless read, an oddly lighthearted, witty blend of cultural history and science writing that will sit happily on your bookshelf next to Diane Ackerman or Simon Winchester. Ruminator 08 The historical presence of poisons in cosmetics and in the medicine chest is well presented and described, yet the author goes a step further and discusses poisons in the workplace and the adverse effect on the environment caused by certain commercial industrial concerns. . . . Even the poisons inflicted by fangs are very well discussed and make for interesting reading. Science Books & Films 08 The author's fluent and almost chatty style entertainingly imparts even complex information to his lay audience. Jerusalem Post 04 02 72 01 http://www.arcadepub.com/resources/titles/55970100942100/images/55970100942100L.gif 07 02 72 01 http://www.arcadepub.com/resources/titles/55970100942100/images/55970100942100S.gif http://www.arcadepub.com/book/?GCOI=55970100942100 01 Arcade Publishing http://www.arcadepub.com 04 Allen & Unwin, Australia US 04 20050512 Arcade Publishing 01 IP 01 25.00 USD