Chemistry World Book Club
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
A Taste for Poison
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you really want to develop an appreciation for those early pathologists who went so far as to taste-tested truly horrible samples from corpses to e...
Book club – Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate change, yet their work and knowledge has long been dismissed as unscientific. In her fir...
Book Club - Racing Green
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode examines the science behind auto racing by digging into Racing Green: How Motorsports Became Smarter, Safer, Cleaner and Faster, by scie...
Book club – Sticky by Laurie Winkless
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why is duct tape the answer to fixing everything? How do geckos cling to walls? And what, exactly, keeps our car tyres rolling down the road? In S...
Her Hidden Genius
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss Her Hidden Genius. It’s the new book by Marie Benedict, a lawyer and best-selling author who unearths the historical st...
Book club – Murder isn’t Easy
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re delving deep into the science of one of the best-selling fiction writers of all times: Agatha Christie. We look for evidence...
Life as We Made It
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is for anybody interested in how human beings have altered the world around us since we came on the scene tens of thousands of years ago....
Book club – The Icepick Surgeon by Sam Kean
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we’re reading The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science. It’...
Book club – Deep Sniff by Adam Zmith
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll tackle Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures by Adam Zmith. In his first book, Zmith blends historical research...
Book club – Lessons from Plants by Beronda Montgomery
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is for all those people who have turned to gardening or amassed houseplants during the Covid lockdowns as we’ll be talking about Lesson...
Book club – Science in Black and White by Alondra Oubré
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s episode we’ll talk about Science in Black and White: How Biology and Environment Shape Our Racial Divide by medical anthropologi...
Book club – Vampirology by Kathryn Harkup
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Get your garlic and crucifix ready as we tackle Kathryn Harkup’s latest book Vampirology: The Science of Horror’s Most Famous Fiend. Harkup is a c...
Book club – Handmade by Anna Ploszajski
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you make a chemical-resistant beaker out of a material as fragile as glass? And how do you tell the temperature of a piece of steel without a t...
Book club – The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We might like to think that science is purely objective, driven only by scientific principles and free of social disturbances — but this couldn’t ...
Book club – Never Mind the B#ll*cks, Here’s the Science by Luke O’Neill
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re looking for answers to the important questions in life like ‘Why do you believe in diets?’ or ‘Why are you working in a...
Book club – The Poison Trials by Alisha Rankin
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month we find out drug testing has come a long way, as we read The Poison Trials: Wonder Drugs, Experiment and the Battle for Authority in Renais...
Book club – Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month we’re celebrating 20 years of a popular science classic: Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks. In his memoir, ...
Book club – Science books for children
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you’re looking for a sciencey Christmas present for the young readers in your life or just want to delve into the science of children’s sc...
Written in Bone
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This time, we’re reading Written In Bone: Hidden Stories in what We Leave Behind by forensic anthropologist Sue Black and author of the 2018 Sund...
The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the end times in this episode as we’re reading The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). In five scenarios, cosmologist Katie Mack...
United We Are Unstoppable
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we’re reading United We Are Unstoppable: 60 Inspiring Young People Saving Our World, a book of short stories, told by the people ...
Half Lives
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This month we’re reading Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium by historian Lucy Jane Santos. The book traces the story of a radioactive elem...
Three books on pandemics
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we’re tackling the coronavirus information overload by comparing three books on pandemics past and present: Outbreaks and Epidemics...
The Alchemy of Us
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From photographic film to scientific glassware, Ainissa Ramirez’s new book The Alchemy of Us offers a unique insight into our relationship with te...
Smoke & Mirrors
06 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we take a peek behind the curtain with Gemma Milne’s Smoke & Mirrors. In her first book, the technology journalist looks at headline-...
Ingredients
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This time we're reading Ingredients, a book that promises to make chemistry more fun than Hogwarts. First-time author George Zaidan investigates the...
Say Why to Drugs
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why don't we think of coffee as a drug? Are you hooked on heroin the moment you take it...or is the answer more complicated? In Say Why to Drugs: Ever...
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we’re talking about giraffes, a magic sandwich hole and the question of whether robots will take over the world. All of these things com...
Antimony, Gold, and Jupiter’s Wolf: How the Elements Were Named
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we’re delving deep into chemistry’s history as we discuss Peter Wothers' book Antimony, Gold, and Jupiter’s Wolf: How the Elements W...
Transcendence
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In her new book Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time Gaia Vince assembles everything you need to know about the ...
Language Unlimited
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we’re delving into the science of language as we’re discussing linguist David Adger’s book Language Unlimited: The Science Behind ...
How to: absurd scientific advice for common real world problems
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever considered the practicalities of building a swimming pool out of cheese? Or wondered what it would take to surround your house with a l...
Book Club – The Chemical Detective
02 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Enjoy a fast-paced thriller but wish they were a bit more believable when it comes to the science? In that case, Fiona Erskine’s chemical infused de...
Superior: The Return of Race Science
08 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In Superior: The Return of Race Science, Angela Saini examines the history of race science and the people who spend years studying it. Superior w...
The Periodic Table
12 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This time in our Book Club podcast, we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Primo Levi, the man behind The Periodic Table. In this collection of shor...
Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table
14 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For this month’s Book Club podcast, it’s a highly unusual review scenario, as we get to grips with Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Ta...
Clearing the air
09 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This time in Book Club, we follow sustainability journalist Tim Smedley as he pursues one of humankind’s greatest challenges and looks at the danger...
The truth about fat
09 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s book club podcast, Anthony Warner – ‘The Angry Chef’ behind the popular blog of the same name that then spawned a book – tac...
Humble Pi
08 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s podcast, Australian author Matt Parker looks at the unique relationship that exists between human beings and numbers, and how it ine...
Inventing Ourselves
07 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This month's podcast features Inventing Ourselves by cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. The book explores the complex changes that take...
Gene machine: the race to decipher the secrets of the ribosome
02 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This time, we discuss and scrutinise Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome, by Venkatraman “Venki” Ramakrishnan. By the t...
I'm a Joke and So Are You
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s podcast features I’m a Joke and So Are You, in which comedian Robin Ince examines what makes us human by reflecting on his own experi...
Losing the Nobel Prize
05 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s podcast is about the Nobel prize and the hype that has surrounded it for decades, as described in Brian Keating’s new book Losing th...
Liquid
25 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s podcast features material scientist Mark Miodownik’s latest book Liquid: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through ...
Cat Zero
06 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For this month’s podcast, we take a slight diversion from our usual non-fiction theme, and take a look at Jennifer Rohn’s lab-lit novel Cat Zero....
The Beautiful Cure
27 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Emma Stoye presents this month’s podcast about immunology professor Daniel Davis’s latest book – The Beautiful Cure. The book explores the hist...
Unthinkable
27 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s podcast presented by Emma Stoye, Helen Thomson reveals fascinating insights about some of the rarest neurological conditions known t...
Chemistry World at the Hay Festival
08 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Join Emma Stoye at the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. She speaks to New Scientist's Rowan Hooper about his book Superhuman, ...
Seeds of Science
15 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For this month’s podcast, we explore the world of anti-GM campaigning which Mark Lynas was a part of for years, and discover what it was that made h...
Enlightenment now
03 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Are things getting better, or are we on the decline? In Enlightenment now, Steven Pinker argues that science and reason have made us better than ever ...
The Element in the Room
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For this month’s podcast, we peruse Steve Mould and Helen Arney’s new book: The Element in the Room. Inspired by the popular science stand-up sh...
Testosterone rex
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This month we take a look at Testosterone rex. Cordelia Fine dismantles various ideas about gender equality, and examines why these perceptions hav...
More molecules of murder
26 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss More molecules of murder, in which John Emsley meets your morbid fascination with stories of true crime and the poisons involv...
Chemistry
01 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Chemistry, in which First-time novelist Weike Wang takes us inside the mind of a Chinese American PhD student in Boston
The angry chef
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dodgy dietary advice is everywhere, from bite-size morsels on social media to an all-you-can-eat buffet of books on how to eat ‘well’. ‘Lifestyl...
A crack in creation
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We are the products of nature and nurture, but the invention of Crispr, which enables us to alter our genomes, means we could soon be nurturing nature...
A course in deception
15 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Things go from bad to worse for Mackenzie Smith when her data disappears, her lab rats are killed, and she is accused of fraud. But slowly she stars t...
Frankenstein: annotated for scientists and engineers
04 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Next year will see the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelly's classic, Frankenstein; or, the modern Prometheus. To celebrate this, a n...
We have no idea
04 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Everything you need to know about everything we don’t yet know. This month’s book is We have no idea by the creators of PHD Comics, Jorge Cham a...
The death of expertise
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The mass disparagement of knowledge is a recent phenomenon. Apparently we’ve all had enough of experts, and facts aren’t important, as there are a...
Bring back the king
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Almost a decade after its extinction, the Pyrenean ibex became newly un-extinct thanks to cloning. But what are the limits of this technology? Could w...
The telomere effect
07 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We would all love the gift of eternal youth. That remains a dream, but there are things we can actively do to resist the effects of ageing. One proven...
The master algorithm
24 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If there’s one thing we can learn from histroy it’s everything that there is to know. Or at least that’s the promise of machine learning. The ma...
Furry logic
13 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Evolution has created ingenious solutions to life’s problems. Some animals use physics in a way that stumps even the physicists. Turtles, for instan...
The secret life of fat
24 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Fat might not be fashionable, but it is essential. It is a living organ that communicates with the brain, controlling our behaviour and even influenci...
Homo deus and the best books of 2016
16 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Yuval Noah Harari likes the big topics. His last book, Sapiens attempted to explain everything that has happened in the history of humanity. In his la...
I contain multitudes: the microbes within us and a grander view of life
22 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Some cleaning agents claim to kill 99.9% of all bacteria, but if preventing disease is the main aim, then maybe total annihilation isn’t the best co...
Big data: does size matter?
08 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we discuss the benefits of big data and whether these are offset by their threat to privacy
Science and the city: the mechanics behind the metropolis
13 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s book club we discuss the technologies that help modern cities function
Grunt: the curious science of humans at war
30 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Grunt: the curious science of humans at war by Mary Roach. The military is a huge investor in scientific and technological deve...
Herding Hemingway's Cats
28 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Herding Hemingway's Cats: understanding how our genes work by Kat Arney. In Ernest Hemingway's house in Florida there is a fa...
Sorting the beef from the bull
22 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Sorting the beef form the bull by Richard Evershed and Nicola Temple. The horsemeat scandal opened our eyes to the fact that t...
Scientific Paper Writing – a Survival Guide
22 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Scientific Paper Writing - a Survival Guide by Bodil Holst. Every budding researcher must eventually write a scientific paper, ...
Why science is sexist
22 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Why science is sexist by Nicola Gaston. That science is sexist isn't a question Nicola Gaston entertains – it is. Rather, ...
The Elements of Power
22 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss The Elements of Power by David Abraham. New technologies like smart phones and wind turbines are increasing the diversity of el...
Adventures in the Anthropocene
22 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Adventures in the Anthropocene: a journey to the heart of the planet we made by Gaia Vince. Geologists categorise time in ag...
Thing explainer
22 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss Thing explainer by Randall Munroe. In this book the xkcd creator attempts to explain things as diverse as the International S...
Why does asparagus make your wee smell?
20 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we answer the profound qustion Why does asparagus make your wee smell? This is the title of Andy Brunning's new book, which addresses a s...
Scientific Babel
20 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This month we examine the history of scientific language, with Michael Gordin's book Scientific Babel. We ask whether the mixture of science and lang...
A is for Arsenic
18 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to our new monthly podcast, theChemistry World Book Club. Each month we’ll be sharing our thoughts on one of the latest popular science rele...