Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History

Much as fashion and authors go in and out of style, the sciences do the same. During the 19th century chemistry was ascendant but then physics came into vogue. As of late biology receives more than its fair share of attention, but still chemistry acts as a right hand to society and in a very simple and easy to understand way, this book explains why. All the attention seems to go to "Napoleon's Buttons", but this is a red herring; after the introduction this somewhat silly subject is never brought up again (I kept thinking that even if all the buttons really fell off, would the soldiers really have no other way to keep their clothes on?). This book could have more appropriately been called "Benzene's Bondage" or "Phenol Oh!" but who has heard of these guys? Napoleon is much more famous so I enjoyed the introduction and the rest of the book just as much (It has been a LONG time since I have studied chemistry, I can't even remember the Periodic table). The writing is clear and concise. There is lots of chemistry but also lots of history and personality. The author spends much more time explaining who, what, when, where and why, much of the how (details of all the chemical reactions, temperature, pressure, time, method, etc.) is left for a real chemistry class. After Napoleon, the introduction is well used to explain basic terminology and chemistry. As through the entire book, the diagrams of the chemicals are simple and excellent. They are right after the text they are diagramming, and they are all succinctly labeled; I referred back to this first section many times. There are many chemical names, after a while they start to sound similar but the index is also very good; several times I wanted to find a previously mentioned chemical and I was always able to find the correct passage. As the authors state right off, this is a very subjective endeavor. If you go ask another chemist to name the 17 most important chemicals, you are almost assured to get an [at least] slightly different list. That is not the real point though. (Who actually believes those top 5, 10 or 20 lists anyway? #1 is the champion but #2 is an also-ran; #20 is a contender but #21 is forgotten, it is pretty silly and depressing to take this literally.) The authors, in a very approachable manner, explain where and when these 17 chemicals made a difference, but please don't hold on too strongly to the belief that #5 is more important to history than #6 (or that we could do completely without #18). I found an interesting change going through my thought process about halfway through this book. At first I focused on the differences between the chemicals, but then they all started to look pretty similar. For me, especially, the similarities between glucose and cellulose were hard to wrap my mind around; my clothes and just don't look the same when I consider the difference between them and dessert (or a tree). The dies that make my clothes beautiful colors look a

I picked this up in a store and bought it on a whim... Halfway through I finally let myself take a break and put it down. Before I'd finished it I bought another copy for my grandfather (chemical engineer) and I know he'll love it. Very interesting and easy to follow, no matter what your level of knowledge (I had some chemsitry in college, nothing since). It ties chemistry in to the real world rather nicely, drawing connections I never knew about. Highly recommended.

Did tin buttons that crumbled in the cold stop Napoleon's army? Or was it scurvy from lack of vitamin-C? Or lack of antibiotics for the wounded? Throughout history, there have been substances that have changed the world. The authors have chosen 17 types of molecules that have altered the course of nations, societies and cultures. Each chapter centers on one of the molecules, and it's very interesting that many of the molecules are interconnected. The authors take us on a fascinating journey through history and chemistry - starting with piperine, the stuff that puts the 'hot' in peppers and ending with the molecules that have conquered malaria. Both natural and synthetic substances are studied. The impact of natural substances like salt, caffeine, and olive oil reaches far past daily life and into the fate of nations. The search for synthetic substitutes has led to diverse products such as nylon, artificial sweeteners, the Pill, and Styrofoam. The impacts of several live-saving substances like vitamin-C and antibiotics are explored. Some compounds, such as DDT and Freon, that were originally seen as near-miracles have proven to be rather disastrous to the environment. Napoleon's Buttons explores the consequences for better and for worse, sometimes all in the same substance. The book starts with a very friendly overview of chemistry diagrams and terms. The authors provide a multitude of diagrams that show how various substances are similar and different. It's truly amazing how a tiny change in structure can completely alter the properties of a molecule. I think the diagrams are fascinating, but if you're not that interested in the actual chemistry, you can easily ignore them and concentrate on the stories that illustrate the effect of each substance. Le Couteur and Burreson entertain as well as educate with their well-chosen selection of anecdotes. Their writing is very understandable for the casual reader, but includes enough detail to satisfy someone with a stronger background in science. I don't usually comment on the look of the text, but I thought it was just outstanding in this book. Both the text and the diagrams are exceptionally clean and easy to read. The information is very well organized - it's easy to read each chapter as a self contained unit, but there's enough of a framework tying it all together to make it a coherent whole.

Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules changed History written by Penny LeCouteur and Jay Burreson is a wonderful little tome of seventeen chapters that shows the reader how 17 molecules changed history."Napoleon's Buttons" takes the reader on a world-wind tour de force about what Columbus could not have foreseen from the results of his search for piperine, Magellan was unaware of the long-term effects of his quest for isoeugenol, and Schonbein would have been astonished that the nitrocellulose he made from his wife's apron was the start of of great industries as diverse as explosives and textiles. Numerous chemical discoveries were, by far, some of the best serendipity and luck has often been cited as crucial to many important findings, but the ability of the discoverers to realize that something unusual has happened... and to question why it occured and how it could be useful... is of greater importance.Perkin could not have anticipated that his experiment would eventually lead to not only to a hugh synthetic dye industry, but also to the development of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals. "Napoleon's Buttons" takes a look at Marker, Nobel, Chardonnet, Carothers, Lister, Baekeland, Goodyear, Hoffmann, Leblanc, the Solvay brothers, Harrison, Midgley, and others who have stories about their discoveries in the chemical industry making for some very interesting anecdotal stories."Napoleon's Buttons" has 17 chapters, making for some interesting reading, especially if you have a science background, you'll find this book enlightening, if for nothing else but the history of chemistry or better yet the chemistry in world history. This is an easy book to read and it has plenty of basic chemical structures that the authors use to explaine their points. Kind of like Organic Chemistry 101 but much simpler and well illustrated. "Napoleon's Buttons" shows us how unsuspected molecules have changed our world, for better or worse and how this affect hisory as we know it."Napoleon's Buttons" is a delightful read and is wonderfully readable book interwoven with events of history and how they have changed the course of human history to tranform society. This is a book that makes learning basic chemistry fascinating.I gave this book a solid five stars for the reasons stated above and you'll enjoy reading about the way human society both paid the price and reeped the benefits. You'll find this book easy to rad and the authors do explain things enough so evan the layperson can follow along and get the jest of the story. I would recommend reading this book if you are taking any chemistry course.