Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Vanity, Vitality, and Virility is essentially a collection of 'portraits' loosely arranged into 'galleries' that bring together related themes. While it will not advise you what to do if you want to improve your looks, your health, your peace of mind, or your sex life, it does explain the science behind many of the products that claim to be able to do just that. It looks at a range of products and ingredients that impinge on our everyday life and explains in plain language how 30 commonly encountered chemicals work, and how and why we use them. Chapter one, Vanity - no more wrinkles? has an entry on alpha-hydroxy acids. Advertisers call them 'natural fruit acids' but they are products of the chemical industry. They can improve the skin by penetrating the outer layer and stimulating the growth of new skin. But do they really remove wrinkles? Chapter two, Vitality - food for thought, tackles dietary fats: trans fats, essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6 fats), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which some say is a necessary preventive against breast cancer despite coming only from animal fats. Chapter three, Virility, Sterility, and Viagra, has a section on 'more and better sex': what natural substances act as aphrodisiacs and can chemists improve upon them? There are substances that can enhance sexual performance and heighten orgasm. How to they work, and are they safe? Chapter four, Germ warfare, contains a section on Hypochlorite: so-called chlorine bleach. It doesn't actually contain chlorine but hypochlorite, and it is this that gives it the power to 'kill all germs stone dead'. But there have been campaigns to ban it because it produces other chemicals when added to water. Chapter five, It's all in the mind, deals with depression and anti-depressants: Prozac, Lithium (used to treat manic depression: the odd thing is that lithium shouldn't work, but does), and Aluminium, once wrongly convicted of causing Alzheimer's Disease. Chapter six, Polymers in unlikely guises, ranges from super-absorbent polymers (SAPs) used in tampons and nappies, to 'whispering asphalt' which modifies bitumen by adding polymers, resulting in road surfaces which are quieter and which produce less spray.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. vii)
• Introduction (p. ix)
• 1 Vanity: No More Wrinkles! (p. 1)
• Lipstick (p. 2)
• Anti-ageing creams: alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs) (p. 7)
• Silky smooth skin: boron nitride (p. 15)
• Sunblocks, sunscreens, and instant tans (p. 17)
• Liposomes (p. 29)
• 2 Vitality: Food for Thought (p. 33)
• Clarifying the fats (p. 35)
• Trans fatty acids (p. 46)
• Conjugated fatty acids (p. 51)
• Vitamin C (p. 53)
• The nitrate enigma (p. 67)
• 3 Virility, Sterility, and Viagra (p. 74)
• Nitric oxide (NO) (p. 75)
• Raising the dead: Viagra (p. 85)
• Love potions and poppers (p. 92)
• An element of sex: selenium (p. 94)
• Diamonds are a girl's best friend (p. 105)
• 4 Germs Warfare (p. 111)
• Killing germs (p. 113)
• Hypochlorite (p. 120)
• Phenols and chloro-phenols (p. 127)
• Quaternary ammonium salts, 'quats' (p. 132)
• Hydrogen peroxide (p. 135)
• Ozone (p. 141)
• Shower cleaners (p. 144)
• 5 It's All in the Mind (p. 147)
• Depression and antidepressants (p. 148)
• Prozac (p. 153)
• A little light-headed: lithium therapy (p. 160)
• Alzheimer's disease and aluminium (p. 167)
• Treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) (p. 177)
• 6 Polymers in Disguise (p. 181)
• Disposable unmentionables and superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) (p. 181)
• Chewing gum: polymeric hydrocarbons: 1 (p. 189)
• Whispering roads: polymeric hydrocarbons: 2 (p. 198)
• Polycarbonate (p. 208)
• Postscript: Chemiphobia, its Causes and Cure (p. 214)
• Glossary (p. 228)
• Further Reading (p. 240)
• Index (p. 247)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In this engaging work, Emsley (science writer in residence, chemistry, Cambridge) succeeds on two major points: he provides the chemistry background that most consumers lack to analyze the advertising and media claims behind everyday products, foods, and medical treatments; and he makes a sound case against the rampant "chemiphobia" that equates the word chemical with artificial, or worse, toxic. The chapters are organized around beauty products, food, sex, household disinfectants, psychoactive drugs, and useful polymers. A short glossary defines the major chemical concepts addressed, and bibliographies (both general and for each chapter) round out the text. To his credit, Emsley manages to persuade without being didactic or strident, citing current research and noting alternative claims, as well as giving historical background and anecdotes. In some ways, this work updates his decade-old The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide (o.p.), though it concentrates on fewer chemicals of contemporary concern. Joe Schwarcz's That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles offers similar lighthearted insight into the chemistry of everyday things, but the tone of Emsley's work makes it appropriate for undergraduate as well as public libraries.-Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Libs., OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

You are standing in the supermarket holding two bottles of sunscreen. One claims to have titanium dioxide, the other something called OMC. What are these mysterious chemicals and which works better? Enter Emsley, Cambridge University science writer in residence, who demystifies the benefits of chemistry from a catalogue of over 30 chemicals that we encounter every day. His subjects jump from lipstick and sunscreen to trans-fats and vitamin C, bleach, Prozac, baby diapers and Viagra (hence the third V of the title). Emsley includes the sources and uses of all the chemicals, which can read like encyclopedia entries, as well as histories of each chemical's discovery and occasional misuses. To this he adds a few morality tales of chemical witch-hunts in the media, such as the unsubstantiated accusation that aluminum causes Alzheimer's. The book can be read cover to cover or used as a reference, but either way, even chemists will find out some surprising facts, such as that scurvy was for a time treated with sulfuric acid. The more complicated chemistry is relegated to a glossary, but unexplained scientific terms pop up with regularity in the text. Emsley gets on his soapbox in the postscript, asking for a little gratitude for the much maligned chemical industry, whose benefits he has already demonstrated. Given the occasional detours into technical language, however, his audience may be predominantly the chemically inclined. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Popular-science writer Emsley has written an engaging book that discusses 40 different chemical compounds and their roles in our present way of living. Interested readers do not need a background in chemistry in order to understand the book. An excerpt from the introduction says "Vanity, Vitality and Virility was not written merely to set your mind at rest over issues that surround these various chemicals, but as a book to be enjoyed by those who simply want to know more about some of the chemicals that are now an intrinsic part of our lives." The topics discussed range from ingredients in the cosmetic, food, mental health, and hygiene industries to some common chemicals found in love and romance. One section discusses the unfounded concerns of people who fear the use of chemicals and strives to reduce some of the negative publicity surrounding chemicals that are an integral part of today's world. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels. J. R. Sasthav formerly, Howard Community College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

John Emsley won the Science Book prize in 1995 for his Consumer's Good Chemical Guide, and followed this with a series of popular science books. John spent 20 years as a researcher and lecturer in chemistry at London University before becoming a freelance popular-science writer and a Science Writer in Residence, first at Imperial College London and then in the Chemistry Department of the University of Cambridge. In 2003 he was awarded the German Chemical Society's Writer's Award.