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The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison | 
| Author: John Emsley
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Category: Book
List Price: £18.99
Buy New: £18.04
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 340334
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 436
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.9
ISBN: 0192805991
Dewey Decimal Number: 540
EAN: 9780641823893
ASIN: 0192805991
Publication Date: April 28, 2005
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Oddly Unsatisfying May 24, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
John Emsley is one of my favourite science writers and I came to this tome with high hopes of being thoroughly entertained, but finished it with a vague sense of disappointment
Entitled Elements of Murder the book actually only considers the malicious use of five _ mercury, lead, arsenic, thallium and antimony. Unhappily for Emsley (and even more unhappily for the recipient), the alleged use of polonium as a poison post dates this work, or the variety could have been improved.
The science bits of the book (how and why these things are so darned nasty) is superbly written, as are the sections of what can only be called trivia - the speculations the both Mozart and Napoleon met their ends as the result of ingesting, either by accident or design, toxic metals. Where the book fails to deliver is in the description of some famous proved cases of murder by poisoning, such as those carried out by George Chapman. Emsley is a talented science writer, not a teller of juicy scandal and by the time the last couple of murders are reached, the tales are getting a little repetitive.
Buy the book for well written popular science and you will not be disappointed: buy it for the history of crime and I think you might feel short changed.
 Just what the Doctor ordered. February 8, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed reading this book. It struck an excellent balance between scientific insight and salacious gossip. What a combination!
I was reading this in my hospital bed needing something demanding enough to save me from terminal boredom, but that I could pick up in short bursts. Just what the Doctor ordered.
 A Cheap 'Cut and Paste' Effort. November 27, 2006
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
The concept of the book is clever: it takes the main heavy metal elements and discusses their uses and misuses, in respect of murder.
The result, however, is disappointing. It appears to have been written across a weekend by taking a few very basis facts and then pasting in chunks of `off the shelf' (often rambling) criminal biography.
Considering Emsley is a scientist most parts of the book are so un-scientific to be exasperating. I quote just two examples: in respect of the possibility of lead ingestion being the cause of gout (in the 1800's) `there is no reason why this could (cause gout) but it does' (!). Equally the madness of King George III he attributes to lead (despite a mass of contrary research on this subject - which he fails to quote), `because he was fond of lemonade and sauerkraut' (allegedly high in lead).
Readable, but a really cheap `put-together'. Mr Emsley, please spend a little more time
It didn't meet my expectations. September 3, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
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