The poisoner's handbook - Velha Estante

No cover — Deborah Blum: The poisoner's handbook (2010, Penguin Press)

319 pages

English language

Published Aug. 7, 2010 by Penguin Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-59420-243-8
OCLC Number:: 430052048

(1 review)

The untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. A pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle and Norris and Gettler create revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. From the vantage of their laboratory it also becomes clear that murderers aren't the only toxic threat--modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner.

1 edition

slayra reviewed The poisoner's handbook by Deborah Blum

Review of "The poisoner's handbook" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Truth is reality often surpasses fantasy and crimes of the "jazz age" in NY can be as enthralling as any good crime fiction book, or even better since you can research some of the main characters later on the Internet and discover a lot more horrid facts about them (or good ones, depends on who you choose to research!). But the best of all is learning how forensic medicine evolved and learning a lot about poisons and exactly what makes them deadly (or not). Furthermore, I also discovered that the US government chose to poison people who drank during the dry years - I'm still in shock with this discovery and I'm not even american. Very good book, gives you a great insight not only to poisons and how they work, but also to real-life heroes who devoted their life to learn about poisons' chemistry in order to unravel a …

Truth is reality often surpasses fantasy and crimes of the "jazz age" in NY can be as enthralling as any good crime fiction book, or even better since you can research some of the main characters later on the Internet and discover a lot more horrid facts about them (or good ones, depends on who you choose to research!). But the best of all is learning how forensic medicine evolved and learning a lot about poisons and exactly what makes them deadly (or not). Furthermore, I also discovered that the US government chose to poison people who drank during the dry years - I'm still in shock with this discovery and I'm not even american. Very good book, gives you a great insight not only to poisons and how they work, but also to real-life heroes who devoted their life to learn about poisons' chemistry in order to unravel a series of previously unpunished crimes and hopefully save future lives. Very well written and extremely entertaining, I had a wonderful time reading and learning.