Poison

I've mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, this book deals with a very interesting subject - both in terms of the author's personal family history and also regarding poisoning in general - and there is plenty of variety and breadth in the content of this quirky book. Bell comes over as intelli......more

This is a weird comparison to make, since the subject matter is very different, but I had the same problem with this book as I did with The Bling Ring: there's too much information and too little analysis. Bell decided to tackle her family history, the different concepts of poisoners throughout the......more

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. It takes a long, circuitous route to discover the truth about the poisoning of two of Bell's uncles, when they were infants. Using exceptional research, it tells the story of poisoning myths, poisoning in fiction and famous poisonings along the way - i......more

this is one of those fascinating books where you don’t know quite what you are about to learn from one page to the next. If you too love learning more about poisons and those who administer them, you can’t go wrong with this book. Even for those of you who don’t have quite the same niche interest as......more

This was not the book I expected -- a pharmacist writing about a double murder in her family as someone with a personal connection to a poisoning case. The author ranges all over true crime, history, even mythology and folk tales as they relate to poisoning. Beautifully written -- almost poetic. Hig......more