BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEW pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Review of A Healthy, Wealthy, Sustainable World Robert E. Buntrock* Buntrock Associates, Orono, Maine 04473, United States
text are defined in the glossary. Additional resources are cited and the index is good. Understandably, there are some omissions of key topics. The section on obesity only considers drugs and does not consider diet, sugars (including fructose controversies), or sugar substitutes. E. coli, especially the extremely toxic 0157:H7 strain, is only mentioned briefly, although bacterial resistance is discussed. However, these are minor quibbles, and this book should find a receptive audience not only among the public in general but as a resource for science students, teachers, and professors. Here is the bottom line: after millennia of tough living conditions, our way of life worldwide is sustainable only with the aid of chemicals and the related industries.
A Healthy, Wealthy, Sustainable World by John Emsley . Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, U.K., 2010. 221 pp. ISBN: 978-1847558626 (hardcover). $39.00.
Chemist and science writer John Emsley continues to write assimilable books for general as well as technical audiences. In this excellent tome, he shows how the judicious application of chemistry and chemical technology can help achieve the title environment. The ubiquitous influence of chemistry on us and our culture is described in several areas. Pros and cons of chemicals, including risks and optimal implementation, are discussed (“green” may not be what it seems initially to be). Several (17) sidebars titled Common Sense are distributed through the text; in them Emsley discusses and judges widely held opinions and beliefs, including several in the urban myth category. Verdicts include correct, possibly, and wrong (which is the usual judgment). Included are, “Red wine protects against heart disease” (maybe), and “I need to detox my system to remove dangerous chemicals” (wrong). In general, the book provides excellent and sorely needed examinations on risks, chemical and environmental.
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
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[email protected]. 10.1021/ed200434w
Cover image reproduced by permission of the Royal Society of Chemistry; http://www.rsc.org/Shop/books/2010/9781847558626. asp (accessed Jul 2011).
Seven chapters are titled _____ and Chemistry, including Food (coloring agents, additives, neutraceuticals, etc.), Water (drinking, wastewater treatment, etc.), Health (sleeping pills, obesity, flu, asthma, etc.), Transportation Biofuels (bioethanol, biobutanol, biomethane, etc.), Plastics/Polymers (biopolymers, PVC, polycarbonates/BPA, etc.), Cities (solar, unsustainable chemicals and metals, etc.), and Sports (equipment, performance enhancing drugs and foods, etc.). In addition, predictions are made for future situations for each chapter for 7, 17, and 27 years hence. Terms in bold face in the Copyright r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: August 05, 2011 1358
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed200434w | J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1358–1358
