Deborah Blum and the mystery of Poisons

Hello Fellow Readers!

This week we have a really cool interview with one of my favorite authors, Deborah Blum. Deborah has been fascinated with the science of chemistry, and in particular, poisons. In interviewing Deborah, I realized that she had I have the same sense of morbid humor, as she told me that she pitched the idea for her first book, The Poisoner's Handbook, as to how she would get away with murdering her husband. New York Times best-selling book was born. The Poisoner's Handbook tells the mysterious tale of a series of poisonings in New York City in the 1920s. Follow Chief Medical Examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler as they begin to use some of the first forensic science methods to catch this elusive killer. Deborah's book is full of shocking details about the dark side of the Prohibition Era and the underbelly of the Jazz Scene in New York City. As a reader, you'll be startled to find some of the most normal regulations for alcohol and other products, rose out of this time period. I couldn't put this book down, and it's definitely on my list to reread again! You can find the book here if you're desperate enough for your own copy! 

I also interviewed Deborah about her more recent book The Poison Squad. If you can't sense a theme yet, keep reading, lol. Deborah's background is in chemistry, and she wanted to follow up on The Poisoner's Handbook by discussing the rise of the FDA and the regulations of dangerous foods during the 1920s. This book tells the story of Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, the chief chemist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and his struggle to help regulate food so it would be safe enough to eat. This book is definitely a must-read and you can find it here!

You can find my interview with Deborah below. Please note that it is both humorous and surprising, and I enjoyed talking to her, and appreciate her taking the time to talk to me.

Brian Clegg and the Science of Randomness

Hello, my lovely readers!

This week we're moving from the evolution of sexual behavior to theoretical physics. I was honored to interview English science writer Brian Clegg, who has won several awards for his books, as well as worked with the BBC on multiple occasions. I read Brian's book Dice World, a while ago, and was immediately intrigued by the subtitle: "Science and Life in a Random Universe." What did it mean to be in a random universe, I couldn't help but wonder. As I started to read Brian's book, I was impressed by how well Brian communicated the hard-to-understand world of theoretical physics and chaos theory.

Dice World is a book I couldn't put down, not because the story was addictive, but because it gave me answers to many questions I had about what it meant to live in a random universe. Brian puts our lives into perspective, giving applicable scenarios, from luck to statistics. I found myself asking even more questions after each chapter, curious if the universe was as random as I had thought. For the record, I have very little background in physics or mathematics, shying away from them in high school and college, as I thought they were always challenging and difficult. Thankfully, Dice World makes the math and physics easy to understand, and even enjoyable. For anyone looking for an intriguing read about the universe around them, I'd have to recommend this book. Each chapter is sure to surprise you and blow your mind a bit, making you realize how much more there is to the universe than just us.
You can find Brian's book here if you want your own copy! He's also written other award-winning and popular reads such as Inflight Science, which is on my list for my next read. Brian's most recent book Are Numbers Real? also sounds extremely interesting, and will definitely be going on my to-be-read list. You can find the interview with Brian below!