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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
jhbandcats'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
albernikolauras's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.5
This is a nonfiction book describing 11 different compounds that are commonly used for poisonings, how the compounds worked, and some cases where people were poisoned with them - and it was amazing. While there was nothing fancy about his writing, I felt he did an excellent job bringing the science to life.
Bradbury does an excellent job explaining how each chemical works, what part of the body it attacks, and why it brings on the symptoms it does. He discusses the difference a dosage can make between being a treatment and death. The focus of the book is primarily that, but he uses true crime cases of poisonings to bring the details to life. All of this was written so clearly and neatly, and it was just an enjoyable experience to read. I really enjoyed his summary in a 'Garden of Death' at the end of how no chemical is evil and how they just can be used for evil.
That being said, it does give me an uneasy feeling about getting long term treatment at a hospital. Some of the poisoning cases were absolutely abhorrant, and - due to the access doctors and nurses have to some of these chemicals - a lot of medical personnel were featured in the true crime element of this.
Bradbury does an excellent job explaining how each chemical works, what part of the body it attacks, and why it brings on the symptoms it does. He discusses the difference a dosage can make between being a treatment and death. The focus of the book is primarily that, but he uses true crime cases of poisonings to bring the details to life. All of this was written so clearly and neatly, and it was just an enjoyable experience to read. I really enjoyed his summary in a 'Garden of Death' at the end of how no chemical is evil and how they just can be used for evil.
That being said, it does give me an uneasy feeling about getting long term treatment at a hospital. Some of the poisoning cases were absolutely abhorrant, and - due to the access doctors and nurses have to some of these chemicals - a lot of medical personnel were featured in the true crime element of this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
In the case of child abuse/death -sebrittainclark's review against another edition
dark
informative
This was a fascinating book that talked about many notorious poisons, how each effects the body to catastrophic effect, and one or two stories of cases where they were determined to have been used. It also talks about what we've been able to learn from various poisons, some even to treat disease or counteract other poisons. It was a times a bit gruesome, since it does describe the effects of the poison on the body, but it was a fascinating read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder
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