Vanity, Vitality, and Virility: The Science behind the Products You Love to Buy - Hardcover

Emsley, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0192805096 ISBN 13: 9780192805096

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

What is the secret of shower cleaners? How does the dangerous explosive nitroglycerin ward off heart attacks? And what medicines, usually prescribed for other purposes, are said to produce the ultimate orgasm?
In Vanity, Vitality, and Virility, award-winning science writer John Emsley offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of 30 chemicals that we use everyday to make ourselves more beautiful, to improve our diet and sexual pleasure, to kill germs, and to ward off depression and other mental illnesses. Emsley looks at common compounds such as alpha-hydroxy acids, vitamin C, chlorine bleach, and Prozac, telling us if they work, how they work, and how they were discovered. Indeed, the book is packed with useful information and easy-to-digest science, and Emsley relates it all with a light touch that delights in the odd fact or amusing anecdote. Thus we learn of the "vitamin C tights" sold in Japan to make your legs more beautiful (they don't work) and of the whimsical Hungarian scientist who first isolated vitamin C and wanted to name it "godnose"--because he had no idea what the compound was. We discover that Cleopatra was right to bath in milk, which is filled with alpha-hydroxy acids. And we read about the unforgettable British researcher who demonstrated a powerful new drug for male erections at a Las Vegas convention--injecting himself with the compound and then "displaying the results" to a stunned lecture hall.
As with the much-loved Nature's Building Blocks, in John Emsley's hands, chemistry comes alive. Anyone curious about the ingredients in the products we use, and everyone fascinated with science, will be enthralled by this book.

About this title

About the Author

John Emsley is Science Writer in Residence in the Chemistry Department at the University of Cambridge. He wrote a "Molecule of the Month" column for the Independent for many years, received a Glaxo award for science writing and the Chemical Industries Association's President's Award for science communication. His books include Molecules in an Exhibition and Nature's Building Blocks.

Reviews

You are standing in the supermarket holding two bottles of sunscreen. One claims to have titanium dioxide, the other something called OMC. What are these mysterious chemicals and which works better? Enter Emsley, Cambridge University science writer in residence, who demystifies the benefits of chemistry from a catalogue of over 30 chemicals that we encounter every day. His subjects jump from lipstick and sunscreen to trans-fats and vitamin C, bleach, Prozac, baby diapers and Viagra (hence the third V of the title). Emsley includes the sources and uses of all the chemicals, which can read like encyclopedia entries, as well as histories of each chemical's discovery and occasional misuses. To this he adds a few morality tales of chemical witch-hunts in the media, such as the unsubstantiated accusation that aluminum causes Alzheimer's. The book can be read cover to cover or used as a reference, but either way, even chemists will find out some surprising facts, such as that scurvy was for a time treated with sulfuric acid. The more complicated chemistry is relegated to a glossary, but unexplained scientific terms pop up with regularity in the text. Emsley gets on his soapbox in the postscript, asking for a little gratitude for the much maligned chemical industry, whose benefits he has already demonstrated. Given the occasional detours into technical language, however, his audience may be predominantly the chemically inclined.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192805096
• ISBN 13: 9780192805096
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272