ECW Press: Toronto, 2001. 311 pp.
ISBN 1-55022-442-6. $16.95 (softcover);
Freeman: New York, 2001. 304 pp.
ISBN 0716746018. $23.95 (hardcover).

This new book by Joe Schwarcz, winner of the ACS Grady-Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, is a collection of 64 clever essays on "the fascinating chemistry of everyday life". About half the essays concern health and nutrition, discussing such topics as the effectiveness of herbal and other so-called natural remedies as well as some interesting aspects of food chemistry. A large number explore the chemistry around us: dyes, soaps, asbestos, plastics, and the like. There is an interesting collection of pieces on historical topics. The book closes with several nice exposés of what the author calls "silly stuff": pseudoscience and outright fraud.

Schwarcz is an engaging writer, a master of the short essay form. Each of these self-contained commentaries is both fun and informative. Once I started reading The Genie in the Bottle, I could hardly put it down. This is a book to recommend to your non-chemist friends as well as to high school students interested in science. Schwarcz's enthusiasm and wit will draw them in and they will find themselves learning not only new facts about chemistry, and other sciences, but also about how scientists think. While Schwarcz writes for the general reader, he treats both the audience and the subject with respect. This is popular science writing at its best.