Napoleon's Buttons

I've been working through Napoleon's Buttons; How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson for quite a while. It is a collection of essays about the role of certain molecules in history and how many of them have altered and shaped our culture. When our library first acquired this book, I started it and loved it, then have had to turn it back in here and there so other people could borrow it, too. I just recently checked it out again to reference it for my Biochemistry class and finished the last two essays. There are many things that I really like about this book. It is written in a very approachable manner, with some great stories that tie well into chemistry. The science is accurate, and they go through a fair amount of chemistry (organic and inorganic) but it is done in a way that is most understandable. The authors address molecules like glucose, silk, salt, nitro compounds, quinine, morphine..... I find that I have used several of the stories in a couple of my different classes, to good effect.

One of my favorite stories, from the chapter on cellulose:

Schonbein was experimenting with mixtures of nitric and sulfuric acids in the kitchen of his home, against the wishes of his wife, who perhaps understandably had strictly forbidden the use of her residence for such activities. On this particular day his wife was out, and Schonbein spilled some of the acid mixture. Anxious to clean up the mess quickly, he grabbed the first thing that came to hand- his wife's cotton apron. He mopped up the spill and then hung the apron over the stove to dry. Before long, with an extremely loud band and a great flash, the apron exploded. How Schonbein's wife reacted when she came home to find her husband continuing his kitchen experiments of cotton and the nitric acid mix is not known...

I gave my brother a copy of this for his birthday last year, and he is currently reading it with his kids (and tells me that they're enjoying it.) I'm in favor of anything that makes chemistry more accessible to everyone, and this book goes a long way to do just that.