Was Lincolns volatility caused by
mercury poisoning? Was Jack the Ripper an arsenic eater? Can wallpaper kill? Poisons permeate our world. They are in the environment, the workplace, the home. They are in food, our favorite whiskey, medicine, well water. They have been used to
cure disease as well as incapacitate and kill. They smooth
wrinkles, block pain, stimulate, and enhance athletic ability. In this thoroughly entertaining and fact-filled book, science writer Peter Macinnis considers poisons in all their aspects. He recounts stories of the celebrated poisoners in history and literature, from Nero to Thomas Wainewright, and from the death of Socrates to Hamlet and Peter Pan. He discusses…
