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anniereads221's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Medical content, Gore, Child death, Blood, Violence, Suicide, Sexism, Murder, Drug use, and Animal cruelty
angelfireeast24's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Gore, and Vomit
Excellent book. The science balance perfectly with history and true crime. Entertaining and lively voice throughout the book. Highly recommendedjhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Enjoyable book geared toward the layman, this describes poisons in terms of biochemistry. Alas, I have always been poor at understanding chemistry so I didn’t really get some of the more complicated sections. However, the author used similes that made it easier to picture what he meant, such as referring to the destruction within a cell as a mess of Christmas lights, attached in a string and hopelessly tangled.
He also shows how the chemical can be used for good - atropine is toxic but can be an antidote in controlled doses - and for evil, citing poisoning cases from the past up to our time period. (While he explains the destruction that would result from injecting bleach, I was disappointed that he didn’t mention Trump’s crazy suggestion that this might stop COVID.)
I liked the book a lot but the similes were used far too often. In one single page in the polonium chapter, he refers to its effect on the body a wrecking ball, a right hook from a bare-knuckle prizefighter, and the Vandals sacking Rome.
He also shows how the chemical can be used for good - atropine is toxic but can be an antidote in controlled doses - and for evil, citing poisoning cases from the past up to our time period. (While he explains the destruction that would result from injecting bleach, I was disappointed that he didn’t mention Trump’s crazy suggestion that this might stop COVID.)
I liked the book a lot but the similes were used far too often. In one single page in the polonium chapter, he refers to its effect on the body a wrecking ball, a right hook from a bare-knuckle prizefighter, and the Vandals sacking Rome.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Medical content, Abortion, Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Murder
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
3 stars- The book was interesting, but because of the way it was set up, especially in audiobook format let your attention wander at the beginning of the chapter when he was talking about the history of the poison, and only begin to pay attention at the true crime and "how it kills" parts at the end of each chapter. Which means you'd miss things. It was also a bit overall technical. But it was informative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Animal death, Murder, and Violence
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