That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life Book

That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles is the third in a series of laymen's titles by Schwarcz designed to educate first and entertain second while providing, as he writes, "some of the background needed to separate sense from nonsense". Taking one example: what in God's name is Godnose? Most regular folks would be surprised to find that Godnose was once the name applied to hexuronic acid, itself later rechristened ascorbic acid which is today known as Vitamin C. Vitamin C is found in quantity in paprika, the red pigment of which is a potent antioxidant thought to fight cancer. But don't confuse it with identically coloured lead oxide, as much of Hungary discovered in 1994 when dozens of unscrupulous paprika merchants attempted to stretch their supply with the poisonous substance leaving many seriously ill. And who was it that coined the term Godnose? A Hungarian. This is but one strand in a well-matched patchwork of 62 commentaries pertaining to what Dr Joe Schwarcz--professor, author, radio host, and Director of the Office for Science and Society at McGill University in Montreal--calls the "fascinating chemistry of everyday life". That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles is more than simply disembodied trivia for the armchair intellectual; Schwarcz is, first and foremost, a scientist, a passionate analyst of the chemical relationships binding humankind to a world whose elemental functioning remains a mystery to most. He reduces complex concepts without talking down to the reader, and is clearly pleased to be doing so. And though the sparse laughs are purely of the academic variety--his sense of humour is so dry, each joke comes with its own mirage--That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles will put a smile on the face of the very next person who finds they can answer a Trivial Pursuit question with a "Godnose". --Jamie O'Meara, Amazon.caRead More