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Lädt ... The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison (Original 2005; 2006. Auflage)von John Emsley (Autor)
Werk-InformationenMörderische Elemente, prominente Todesfälle von John Emsley (2005)
Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Although the subject is very interesting, and the anecdotes are lovely, the book does not read very well. A lot of facts are presented in a way that is not always very organized. But, overall, a very interesting book! ( ) This might be called "Elements of Murder: a History of Metal Poison," for those are the only kinds of poisons the author is concerned with. He goes in-depth about mercury, lead, antimony, arsenic and thallium, and pays lip service to other elemental poisons. Contrary to what the title would have you believe, this is not a true crime book but rather, simply, a history of poison -- no matter how it was delivered and why. The author, a chemist, explains the uses and abuses of the various poisons throughout history and how they interact with the human body, and provides examples of individual and mass poisonings of both the accidental and homicidal kind. Though, as some other reviewers have noted, the writing is often clumsy, I feel I learned a lot. True crime/history buffs with a passing interest in chemistry would enjoy this book. For a much more in-depth, better-written book focusing on one specific element as poison, try The Arsenic Century. A very interesting book from start to finish, including the lovely cover work, which so convinced my Mother that she thought I'd torn her book. A very thorough explanation is given of the uses of these poisonous elements, why they're poisonous, what damage they do and what remedies can be used against them. In the section on each poison there is also at least one discription of a case where it has been used to poison people, the process that the murderer went through and how they were caught. I also really like the chemical glossary at the end. The weakest part of the book, oddly enough, was the first chapter on mercury but it gets better after this, particularly the sections on arsenic and stibium. Very good and solid book. This book was promising. My advice would be to read the introduction which is well written and interesting and ignore the rest of it. Everything that followed the introduction was of such a poor quality that I could not believe the author of the introduction to be the same as for the main body of the book. For reasons best known to the author there were digressions into vitriolic judgements on the sexual proclivities of King Charles and some quite unsustainable remarks about Isaac Newton. What a shame! I was really looking forward to this book, and whereas the introduction had some very nicely written paragraphs the main body of the book was in ungainly prose. I didn't read much beyond the third chapter -perhaps it improved. For something much more worthwhile read Poisons: From Hemlock to Botox and the Killer Bean of Calabar by Peter Macinnins. This was a fun read. Each chapter is a self contained history of a poisonous element, starting with discovery, natural and biological utilization, and industrial uses. The rest of each chapter is than a series of case histories of people who used that particular element as a murder weapon. It includes a long section on serial poisoner Graham Young, whose story was told in the movie Young Poisoner's Handbook. keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Gehört zu VerlagsreihenAuszeichnungen
Wie starb Napoleon? An seinen Tapeten, lautet die wahrscheinlich richtige Antwort. Zu seiner Zeit begann man zwar, Papier-Tapeten mit Mustern herzustellen, aber mit dem Herstellen sch'ner, kr'ftiger Farben hatte man Schwierigkeiten. F'r Gr'n, Gelb und Orange war man unverzichtbar auf Arsenhaltige Farben angewiesen. Sie k'nnen sich sicherlich vorstellen, dass ein Leben in solcherma'en tapezierten R'umen nicht ohne Folgen blieb. Nicht nur zu Arsen, das nat'rlich auch in anderer Form verabreichen kann, sondern auch zu Quecksilber, Antimon, Blei und Thallium erz'hlt Emsely Geschichten. Die wenigsten genannten Personen starben unfreiwillig an den Vergiftungen wie Napoleon, Newton oder Charles II, sondern die spektakul'ren F'lle waren nat'rlich Morde. Erst die immer weiter verbesserten Untersuchungsmethoden erlaubten es im Laufe der Zeit, M'rder zu ?berf'hren. Allerdings zeigt Emsley auch, dass Mord-Methoden ?ber die er erz'hlt, bis heute noch nicht ausgestorben sind. Und nach wie vor gilt: Wo kein Verdacht ist, wird auch nicht gesucht. Auch ohne Chemiekenntnisse kann man den spannend wie ein Krimi geschriebenen Aufs'tzen bis zum letzten Buchstaben folgen. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)615.9Technology Medicine and health Pharmacology and therapeutics Toxicology; PoisonsKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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