Vanity, Vitality, and Virility: The Science behind the Products You Love to Buy
by John Emsley
List Price:
Our Price: $5.20
You Save: $24.80 (83%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.94 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John EmsleyEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-07-01
ISBN: 0192805096
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Vanity, Vitality, and Virility: The Science behind the Products You Love to Buy
Book Review: Small audience possible - Not scientific enough, and yet too much...
Summary: 1 Stars
As an undergraduate chemist, I found that this book was far less technical than I'd hoped. It seems, however, that I am not above the level for which this text was intended. For example, any non-chemist will not care for the IUPAC names included, and may not have the scientific background that is assumed for some of the explanations. However, someone with a few years of chemistry studies under their belt will find this to be a gloss-over, and entirely unsatisfying. I have returned the item. I believe the small audience which may appreciate this could be a high-school student or freshman undergraduate with one to two semesters of chemistry tops. I believe, however, that someone without any background in chemistry or biochemistry will make little sense of this book at all. I cannot recommend this one.
Summary of Vanity, Vitality, and Virility: The Science behind the Products You Love to Buy
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.
Beauty & Fashion Books
- Health, Mind & Body
- Medicine > Reproductive & Sexual
- Specialties > Pathology > Clinical Chemistry
- General
- Parenting & Families > Family Health
- Professional & Technical > Engineering > Chemical > General
- Medical > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Pathology > Clinical Chemistry
- Professional Science > Chemistry > General & Reference
- Science > Agricultural Sciences > Food Science
- Chemistry > General & Reference
- History & Philosophy > General
- General
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in chemistry as entertainment
Four Laws That Drive the Universeby Peter Atkins
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-09-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.12
Price in other shops:
Why There's Antifreeze in Your Toothpaste: The Chemistry of Household Ingredientsby Simon Field
Chicago Review Press; Published: 2007-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.20
Price in other shops:
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhoodby Oliver Sacks
Vintage; Published: 2002-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the Worldby Simon Garfield
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2002-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.45
Price in other shops:
The Boric Acid Murder: A Gloria Lamerino Mystery (Gloria Lamerino Mysteries)by Camille Minichino
St. Martin's Minotaur; Published: 2002-05-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.79
Price in other shops:
The Carbon Murder: A Periodic Table Mystery (Gloria Lamerino Mysteries)by Camille Minichino
St. Martin's Minotaur; Published: 2004-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.79
Price in other shops:
The Nitrogen Murder: A Periodic Table Mystery (Periodic Table Mysteries)by Camille Minichino
St. Martin's Minotaur; Published: 2005-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.81
Price in other shops:
Hydrogen: The Essential Elementby John S. Rigden
Harvard University Press; Published: 2003-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.40
Price in other shops:
Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World (Popular Science)by Nick Lane
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-03-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Vanity, Vitality, and Virility: The Science behind the Products You Love to Buyby John Emsley
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.23
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry (Cartoon Guide To...)by Larry Gonick, Craig Criddle
Collins; Published: 2005-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.92
Price in other shops:
Let Them Eat Flax: 70 All-New Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Food & Lifeby Dr. Joe Schwarcz
Ecw Press; Published: 2005-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.26
Price in other shops:
Napoleon's Buttons (pb reprint)by Jay Burreson, Penny Le Couteur
Published: 2004-05-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
The Genie in the Bottle: 67 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Lifeby Dr. Joe Schwarcz
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2002-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.31
Price in other shops:
That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Lifeby Dr. Joe Schwarcz
Ecw Press; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.40
Price in other shops:
The Joy of Chemistry: The Amazing Science of Familiar Thingsby Cathy Cobb, Monty L. Fetterolf
Prometheus Books; Published: 2005-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.05
Price in other shops:
The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorusby John Emsley
Chemical Heritage Foundation; Published: 2002-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Everyday Lifeby John Emsley
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999-12-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.94
Price in other shops:
Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elementsby John Emsley
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops:
The Elements of Murder: A History of Poisonby John Emsley
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: