Book Review Cite This: J. Nat. Prod. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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Review of Chemistry in the Marketplace
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Chemistry in the Marketplace, 6th edition. By Ben Selinger and Russel Barrow. CSIRO Publishing, Australia. 2017. xvi + 535 pp. Paperback, $52.95. ISBN 978-1486303328.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Chemistry in the Marketplace is a special magnifying glass, one that reveals the chemistry of almost everything around us. From my experience, most students and peers who do not already have an interest in chemistry usually are either afraid of it or think of it as something too complex and abstract. Chemistry becomes a study of mechanisms, structures, and things like acids and bases, but chemistry is literally a part of everything around us. This book does an impeccable job at showing how concrete chemistry is to a reader who may or may not have ever taken a chemistry course. The introduction begins with the word “chemistry” itself, its origin and evolution. It goes on to discuss the basics: the periodic table, chemical formulas, solubility, chemical activity, and so on. Chapters 2−18 discuss the “chemistry of everything”: health and risk, surfaces, laundry, the kitchen, the dining room, metabolism and sport, cosmetics, the medicine cabinet, plastics and glass, fibers, fabrics, yarns, the garden, hardware and stationery, the swimming pool, the beach, the energy sector, and ionizing radiation. An entire chapter, Chapter 4, is dedicated to “chemistry in the laundry”, where the authors go into detail about detergents and dryer sheets, and what they are made of, but more so, they somehow incorporate a great section on enzymes while discussing dry cleaning. Similarly, there is a section on the “500 Da rule” in the middle of the “chemistry of cosmetics” chapter. Furthermore, in the middle of the chapters, there are certain sections in different colored text boxes, which not just are visually appealing but also add much applicability to the concepts. For example, greenbordered boxes are experiments the reader can actually try at home, and they are not the typical baking soda plus vinegar type of experiments either. The actual chemistry behind the experiments is explained in a concise yet accurate manner. They have other fun facts spread throughout each chapter, such as this one: “the clear window of postal envelopes is made from polystyrene”. The average person probably does not think about the chemical makeup of the window of a postal envelope. The format and approachability of this book will attract a wide range of readers, from students to teachers to even people who just want to learn more about the chemistry around them. This book can be used in the classroom and outside of it. It puts together a vast amount of important and relevant content in a fun and digestible way, while introducing the reader to chemistry they most likely have never thought of before. I highly recommend this book to any teacher or professor who wishes to add some life into their class and really to anyone out there wishing to know more about actual chemistry in everything around us from an enjoyable and credible source.
Maryam B. Muhammad Alessandra S. Eustaquio University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States © XXXX American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00109 J. Nat. Prod. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
