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anniereads221's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Medical content, Gore, Child death, Blood, Violence, Suicide, Sexism, Murder, Drug use, and Animal cruelty
helena_chris's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Medical content, Death, Child death, and Animal death
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Drug abuse and Addiction
cmbohn's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death and Medical content
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
breezer's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Animal death
trulydevious's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Animal death, and Medical content
Moderate: Vomit, Child death, Drug use, Infidelity, and Violence
shadereads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Medical trauma, Death, Murder, and Medical content
Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
jhbandcats's review against another edition
4.0
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Medical content, Abortion, Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Murder
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Animal death, Murder, and Violence
librarymouse's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Animal death, Medical trauma, Murder, Medical content, Suicide, Child death, and Death
mercurialbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This book is brilliant, it would be difficult to find another that fits in with my non-fiction reading interests more accurately. Neil Bradbury is a Professor of Physiology and Biophysics and has written an excellent twist on the dry biochemistry textbook. Combining current biochemical knowledge, medical history and true crime I found each section absolutely fascinating and spent far too much time deep-diving the topics to eagerly discover more information.
The eleven poisons are each given an exploratory chapter. There are stories of their origin and discovery, historical cases of their use, both as a poison and a medicine, and then the biochemical breakdown of how and why they work within the body. The authors sense of humour is also threaded throughout with a very British sarcasm and wit, which absolutely kept me smiling despite the macabre subject matter.
Go buy this book!
Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, and Vomit
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Alcohol, Mental illness, and War