Full name: The Poison Paradox: Chemicals As Friends and Foes

Author: John Timbrell Year: 2005 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Science Purchase/reserch links: Goodreads Amazon LibraryThing ISBNs: 9780192804952 0192804952

Every day we are surrounded by chemicals that are potentially harmful. Some of these we take intentionally in the form of drugs; some we take unknowingly through the food we eat, and the environment around us. John Timbrell explores what makes particular chemicals harmful, what their effects are, and how we can test for them. He examines drugs such as Paracetamol and what it does to the body; Ricin, the most toxic substance known to man; Paraquat, a widely available weedkiller; and how the puffer fish, eaten as a delicacy in Japan, can kill. Using case studies from all around the world, such as the Spanish Oil syndrome which made over 20,000 people ill in Madrid, Timbrell uncovers the facts behind chemical scares. He shows how, with a rational, scientific, and balanced approach, risks can be assessed and managed safely. Similar books: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson Being Mortal by Atul Gawande What If? by Randall Munroe Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Stiff by Mary Roach A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker Cosmos by Carl Sagan Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman