Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us

George Zaidan is a recognized science TV communicator and also a featured writer for national magazines. This is his first book about the chemicals we apply to our bodies and ingest. It is chock full of information, most of it interesting, however unfortunately not coherently organized. In his chapter on processed foods, the question of what actually defines a processed food, whether whatever it is, or if it is healthy or not, remains ambiguous. In his excoriating manner, he tosses out all sorts of questions about chemicals seeded with pungent puns. He delves into the process of photosynthesis and the operations developed by aphids into securing food with great detail, along with descriptions of the plant mechanisms developed for defense. So much interest is devoted to poisons such as cyanide, formaldehyde, and nicotine; best to whet morbid interest in such lethal substances. Much space is devoted to smoking danger, and then a look at vaping, to show the nasty ingredients and their potential hazards. Interest in ultraviolet rays and sunscreen ingredients follows. Written in a hyperactive style reminiscent of a TV script where science is shown to be fantastical miraculous fun, this book is a challenging read where science becomes transformed into a circus act rather than a contemplative and fascinating theme.