Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules and Classic Cases | 
| Author: John Emsley
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.00
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New (34) Used (5) from $14.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 210881
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 242
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0854049657
Dewey Decimal Number: 615.9
EAN: 9780854049653
ASIN: 0854049657
Publication Date: September 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new
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Product Description
Molecules of Murder is about infamous murderers and famous victims. Few books on poisons analyse these crimes from the viewpoint of the poison itself, but doing so throws a new light on how the murders or attempted murders were carried out and ultimately how the perpetrators were uncovered and brought to justice.
Part I includes molecules which occur naturally and were originally used by doctors before becoming notorious as murder weapons. Part II deals with unnatural molecules, mainly man-made, and they too have been dangerously misused in famous crimes. The book ends with the most famous poisoning case in recent years, that of Alexander Litvinenko and his death from polonium chloride.
The first half of each chapter starts by looking at the target molecule itself, its discovery, its history, its chemistry, its use in medicine, its toxicology, and its effects on the human body. The second half then investigates a famous murder case and reveals the modus operandi of the poisoner and how some were caught, some are still at large, and some literally got away with murder.
Molecules of Murder will explain how forensic chemists have developed cunning ways to detect minute traces of dangerous substances, and explain why some of these poisons, which appear so life-threatening, are now being researched as possible life-savers.
Award winning science writer John Emsley has assembled another group of true crime and chemistry stories to rival those of his highly acclaimed Elements of Murder.
Author Information
Another bestseller from John Emsley - the award winning popular science writer!
Dr John Emsley is best known for his series of highly readable popular science books about everyday chemistry, some of which have run into multiple editions and printings and all of which have been translated into several other languages. He has also published in national newspapers and magazines, and he has written chemistry books and booklets for industry. John has a carved an impressive career in popular science writing and broadcasting over the past 20 years, emphasising the benefits of chemistry, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
John's chemistry career started in 1960 as a chemistry graduate with a PhD in phosphorus chemistry from Manchester University, England. With spells at the University of London, Westfield College and Kings College as lecturer and reader, he became science writer at Imperial College, London, and then the University of Cambridge where his prolific writing career took off. With his background in chemistry he has had over 110 original research papers published, mainly on phosphorus chemistry and on very strong hydrogen-bonded systems.
Some of his best selling popular science books (which have been translated into many foreign languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Japanese) include:
-The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide, 1994
-The Shocking History of Phosphorus, 2000
-Nature's Building Blocks, 2001
-Vanity, Vitality & Virility
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| Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
Somewhere Between Science and True Crime November 20, 2008
I ordered "Molecules of Murder" with the thought that it might be a useful book for writing fiction, if I ever feel the need to write about poisoners.
In practice, while it's a nice introduction to what is possible, it's not a very good reference book. The science is all there at an intelligent-layman's level, but the focus of the book is more on the stories of the poisons -- how they were first discovered to be poisonous, how they were refined, how they've been used, and how forensic scientists have detected their use in crime. Each poison is illustrated by a particular murder case where it was used.
I found the pace a little unsettling, though I couldn't say why, exactly -- might just be my attention span. At times I wanted to get to (or through) the personal story, at times I wanted to read more or less of the technical details. By the end of each section I was satisfied, though.
Again, possibly just my taste, and really I should have expected it in a book with "Murder" in the title, but the stories are all rather grim and depressing. The real heroes of this book are the chemists -- sometimes early in the history of science, with very primitive tools -- who were able to prove that a victim was murdered with poison. Nowadays, this is fairly trivial, but in the past it was much, much harder, and much groundbreaking research was done in order to solve famous cases.
The writing is clear, and the science handled quite well, in my opinion. The author never talks down to the reader, but it doesn't get too confusing or boring either.
Overall, recommended if you are interested in the stories behind some of the world's most famous poisons, or possibly if you're a fan of True Crime books, since this is like a short story, poison-themed one.
Very entertaining, even for morons like me November 17, 2008
John Emsley has written a book that can be understood by people like me, who were lucky to get out of the chemistry class without killing everyone. He has done this without dumbing down his text particularly (although the glossary was very useful and I thank him for it), and without making his narrative drag.
Emsley briskly moves through the histories of poisons and focuses on a few particularly interesting murders. He explains the nature of the poison in question, how it was administered, and how it was ultimately detected. Despite being spectacularly inept at all things related to chemistry, I found this book to be thoroughly fascinating throughout.
 Worth the read! November 14, 2008
This was a very good book! I am a scientist by trade, so the chemistry behind the poisons was very interesting to me. I am also fascinated by forensics, so I enjoyed the investigation and poison detection aspects. And although I don't generally read mystery or crime novels (or many books at all nowadays), the human element of the murders and disturbing mindset of the murderers really kept my interest. The author has an informal style of writing that was an easy read for me. I think the general public with a limited science background should not have much trouble understanding at least the gist of the chemistry, if not the details, or the chemistry discussions could be skimmed over to get to the stories of the murders themselves. I liked the layout of the book into chapters on the poisons containing "short stories" on the individual murder cases, so that it was easy to pick up and read in short blocks of time. Definitely worth the time to read.
 Interesting read, but writing style is awkward at times. October 30, 2008
Overall I enjoyed the book, and I found the subject matter fascinating. However, the writing made the book somewhat awkward to read at times.
I am a professional chemist so I didn't have too much trouble with the science aspect of it. I found the chemistry accurate, informative, and fairly well presented. I imagine a lay person would have a little more difficulty with this part of each chapter but it is easy enough to gloss over the technical stuff and just pick out how dangerous each chemical presented is. That is basically what I did while reading the technical sections. This was a fun read for me and I didn't really pay attention to all the chemistry details presented. After reading each science section I had a feel for relatively how deadly each chemical was, and what physical effects the poison would have upon the intended victim. That's all I needed to know to enjoy the poisoning narrative of each chapter.
However, it was the poisoning narratives that I found somewhat awkward to read. They lacked the polish of a writer more accustomed to fiction, or writing for a broader audience. Perhaps some additional editing might have smoothed out the narratives some. They were still very entertaining and informative, though.
In recent years I have found myself to unfortunately be reading fewer and fewer books. For some reason I don't seem to have the patience to sit down and read for long stretches as I once did. So for me the format of this book was ideal. It is broken down into fairly short chapters that can be read individually in about an hour. I read a chapter while I was waiting for my daughter to finish cross-country practice, and another while sitting in the orthodontist's waiting room. It sure beats People magazine!
Dense but very interesting October 25, 2008
Molecules of Murder is a nice entry into the genre of popular science writing especially since the areas of toxicology and chemistry are somewhat underrepresented compared to astronomy and biology. While the writing (based on an advanced reader copy) was a bit uneven, it was not enough to take away from the inherently interesting material. Tracing the connections between well-known assasinations, the poisons used, and the history of the poison or chemicals involved is truly an interesting way to explore chemistry with a lay audience. Emsley goes into a lot of detail but that is an inherent piece of the genre and I think that he strikes a fairly good balance betweem readablilty and detail.
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