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Poisons: From Hemlock to Botox to the Killer Bean of Calabar Hardcover – May 12, 2005
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherArcade Publishing
- Publication dateMay 12, 2005
- Dimensions5.75 x 1 x 8.63 inches
- ISBN-101559707615
- ISBN-13978-1559707619
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Product details
- Publisher : Arcade Publishing; First Edition (May 12, 2005)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1559707615
- ISBN-13 : 978-1559707619
- Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.75 x 1 x 8.63 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,356,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #296 in Toxicology (Books)
- #2,612 in History of Medicine (Books)
- #88,114 in United States History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Peter Macinnis turned to writing after his promising career as a chiaroscuro player was tragically cut short by a caravaggio crash during the Trompe L'Oeil endurance race. He recently did remarkably well in the early rounds of the celebrity underwater cooking program, Moister Chef, but he was disqualified for using dried fruits and desiccated coconut. He has a pet slug which has lived in a jar on his desk for the last six months, as part of another book, and he is an expert echidna handler and ant lion wrangler. He wrote both the score and the libretto for the acclaimed opera Manon Troppo (‘Manon Goes Mad’).
OK, most of that is total fiction, but the wildlife bits are true: I DO handle echidnas when necessary, and I am expert in managing ant lions (the slug has since been released into the wild). I live in Australia, but I travel a lot, mainly gathering ideas for new books, and in the last couple of years, I have been on glaciers and inside a volcano (I collect volcanoes, you see). I also spend a lot of time in libraries, and sometimes in the field, because my two main areas are history and science.
I have learned the hard way to choose my locations: one book that came out a few years back needed some stuff on tardigrades ("water bears") and one easy way to catch them is to use a small hand-held vacuum cleaner to grab them from trees — these are very tiny, about 0.4mm long if they are big, so effectively invisible.
I live on a main road, and one day, without thinking too hard, I wandered out and started vacuuming a tree. It worked, but I'm afraid I got some odd looks, some of them from drivers who should have been watching the road better.
I write for both adults and children, though I seem to get more awards for the stuff I write for children.
Current interests:
--------------------
The history of Australia up to 1950, science, rocks, wee beasties, odd inventions and quack cures, plus any temporary obsessions that take a grip on me.
I also work as a volunteer gardener, for want of a better term, in a local sanctuary, where we do bush regeneration, weeding, erosion control and other stuff like that.
In my spare time, I am the 'visiting scientist' under a CSIRO scheme at Manly Vale Public School: I have four grandchildren, but two are too far away, and the other two are too young to run around, just yet, so the Manly Vale kids are my stand-in grandchildren.
Current work, 2018 version:
-------------------------------
* this year, I produced a fourth edition of 'The Big Book of Australian History' which was released in 2019;
* my 'Australian Backyard Earth Scientist' is now out, has won one award and is long-listed for a "major";
* I recently completed a book on survival: it is a guide for staying alive in Australia, due to come out 1 April 2020, through the National Library of Australia;
* I am clearing my backburner items into Kindle e-books: quite a few are up and more will follow: they all have titles starting 'Not Your Usual...';
* I have just published a rather amusing comedy/mystery/fantasy novel as both an e-book and an Amazon paperback;
* I am currently pitching two works, one on microscopy and one on STEAM (that's STEM with Arts added);
* I have recently written an article on poisons in Tudor society, and that will probably be expanded to a 'nutshell book'.
Other stuff:
-------------
I am active on social media, either under my own name, or using the handle McManly.
I have a blog, but there is no RSS feed. I have worked with computers since 1963, but I'm a bit too busy writing to stay up to speed. Find it at http://oldblockwriter.blogspot.com/
My website: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/writing/index.htm
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I had expected to enjoy this book more than I did. There was nothing wrong with the writing nor was there any problem with the history of poisoning. Author Peter Macinnis does a fine job of giving a complete background of poisons (intentional and accidental) throughout history. In retrospect, I think my problem with the book that I was more interested in more modern poisons and not as much a fan of ancient poisoning.
Removing my disappointment from the review, I would give this book a solid 4/5. If you are interested in the history of poisonings, this is a great book to have on your shelf (or Kindle library).
I’m going to be taking a break from reading non-fiction to catching up on all those mystery e-books I’ve collected over the year.
The good stuff--it's comprehensive and interestingly-formatted, with text boxes of tidbits and little illustrations of the plants, which I quite liked. It also provided lots of information about a variety of poisons from history as well as the modern day, including chemical pollutants and biological sources such as the poison required for cellular apoptosis. It covered famous poisoners of history and their crimes, as well, which was a nice thing to touch on--not all books do.
However, sometimes the science was skimmed over and the style could occasionally be irritating. There was a tendency to ramble and change topics randomly, and it didn't feel as structured as most of the scientific nonfiction books I've read about other things--as well, the author is a bit fond of sounding clever, and a few of his remarks were opaque and too opinionated for nonfiction. A couple lines seemed a touch sexist as well, particularly a bit about belladonna drops making it as though the ladies using them were 'leading gentlemen' on by obeying the fashion convention of the time. I could have done without that.
In all, though, I'd recommend it and would probably read it again. It was very informative and the faults don't sink the book.
Lots can be learned that can very quite likely be used to avert poisoning of yourself or of a loved one or pet. Of course, this quite a lot of effort goes into an environmental awareness that can tell the difference in food versus air or contact, a-hah! Lots of citations and source reference material can be found. Good luck not getting poisoned, I'm so bad at this!
Snotty Old Dowager to Sir Winston Churchill; "Sir, If you were my husband, I would poison your tea".
Reply by Sir Winston Churchill; "If I were your your husband, madam, I would drink it".
Top reviews from other countries
Excels as a writer. His research into ergot is stunning and his reflections on apoptosis is nothing short of amazing and quite alarming.