Naturally Dangerous: Surprising Facts About Food, Health, and the Environment / Edition 1

by James P. Collman

Overview

Full of surprising anecdotes, curious facts and historical oddities, this remarkable little book connects observations from our everyday lives to the scientific principles that explain them. You will find information on organic produce, irradiated foods, trans fat and fat substitutes, natural herbs, designer drugs, smallpox, Mad Cow Disease, Prions, Anthrax, cancer, DNA testing, global warming, acid rain, aphrodisiacs, pheromones, and much more. Chances are if there is something you were wondering about, you will find it covered here. Should you be eating margarine? Are cell phones safe? Read on!The author has avoided scientific jargon and mathematics to make this book of interest to nonscientists and scientists alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781891389092
Publisher:	University Science Books
Publication date:	09/21/2001
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jim Collman is a Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of numerous research and teaching awards, Collman is also an avid fly-fisherman with broad interests in the environment, health, nutrition and the history of science.

Table of Contents

PrefaceOverture–Is Anything Safe? Chapter 1: Chemicals Lurking in Your Grocery StoreChapter 2: The PharmacyChapter 3: Is “Health Food Store” An Oxymoron? Chapter 4: Infectious Agents: Are Microorganisms All Bad? Chapter 5: Cancer and the EnvironmentChapter 6: Nature is ElementalChapter 7: Natural and Unnatural Molecules in the EnvironmentChapter 8: Is the Sky Falling? Chapter 9: Dust, Magnets, and Scuba DivingChapter 10: We Are All Radioactive!Finale–There Is No Free Lunch!Further ReadingGlossaryIndex

Editorial Reviews

Aiming to improve readers’ scientific literacy, Naturally Dangerous examines the risks involved in the choices we make about what we eat, how we treat our illnesses and how much time we spend out in the sun. From electric blankets to monosodium glutamate to genetically engineered foods, Collman steers a reasoned, sensible course through the potentially hazardous straits of everyday life…if you treat Collman’s book as a sampler of solid advice, you won’t finish it feeling hungry.

The Washington Post

Collman’s scientific acumen is evident throughout this book. Only an excellent communicator with a profound understanding of a subject can provide such clear and simple explanations of facts, making them totally accessible to nonscientists and at the same time satisfying to chemists. In this slim and engaging volume, Collman broaches in a lucid, no-nonsense style exactly what the title proffers…This is no doom-and-gloom treatise. It’s an adult, scholarly look at the risks involved with the choices we make.

Chemical and Engineering News

This is one of the most valuable books on public health policy – not merely on environmental policy – to have been written for the intelligent general reader in recent years. Its author is James P. Collman, the George A. and Hilda M. Daubert Professor of Chemistry at Stanford. His target is scientific illiteracy and its effects on public opinion about what is hazardous; overblown health scares reported daily by the news media; and futile government efforts to craft consumer protection policies.

The Stanford Report

…makes an effective case for not accepting the simple equation ‘natural = safe.’ In addition to food, [Collman] covers herbal medicines, environmental pollution, global warming, electromagnetic radiation and radioactivity.

Nature

More books like this need to be written — and read…If you think the sky is falling, that cancer is imminent, and that all things natural or ‘organic’ are wonderful, open this book and surprise yourself with the facts.

Choice

Professor James Collman of Stanford University has provided an excellent resource for all of us who try to help our students and the general public to discriminate between valid science and the bogus “scientific” claims that pervade television, the Internet, the grocery store, and especially the “health food” store.

Hal Harris

…makes an effective case for not accepting the simple equation ‘natural = safe.’ In addition to food, [Collman] covers herbal medicines, environmental pollution, global warming, electromagnetic radiation and radioactivity.

Nature Lib

"This is one of the most informative and valuable books on public health policy-not merely on environmental policy-to have been written for the intelligent general reader in the past 10 years. Its target is scientific illiteracy and how it affects public opinion on what is hazardous and what is behind overblown health scares reported daily by the news media, and often followed by futile government efforts to craft consumer protection policies."

Spyros Andreopoulos

Collman's scientific acumen is evident throughout this book. Only an excellent communicator with a profound understanding of a subject can provide such clear and simple explanations of facts, making them totally accessible to nonscientists and at the same time satisfying to chemists. In this slim and engaging volume, Collman broaches in a lucid, no-nonsense style exactly what the title proffers...This is no doom-and-gloom treatise. It's an adult, scholarly look at the risks involved with the choices we make.--Natalie Foster, Chemical and Engineering News, 12/17/01

Chemical & Engineering News

Professor James Collman of Stanford University has provided an excellent resource for all of us who try to help our students and the general public to discriminate between valid science and the bogus "scientific" claims that pervade television, the Internet, the grocery store, and especially the "health food" store.--Hal Harris, Hal's Pick of the Month, Journal of Chemical Education, January 2002

Journal of Chemical Education

Aiming to improve readers' scientific literacy, Naturally Dangerous examines the risks involved in the choices we make about what we eat, how we treat our illnesses and how much time we spend out in the sun. From electric blankets to monosodium glutamate to genetically engineered foods, Collman steers a reasoned, sensible course through the potentially hazardous straits of everyday life...if you treat Collman's book as a sampler of solid advice, you won't finish it feeling hungry.--Tom Graham, The Washington Post

Washington Post