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Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of seventeen groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration, and made possible the voyages of discovery that ensued. The molecules resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine and law; they determined what we now eat, drink, and wear. A change as small as the position of an atom can lead to enormous alterations in the properties of a substance-which, in turn, can result in great historical shifts.

With lively prose and an eye for colorful and unusual details, Le Couteur and Burreson offer a novel way to understand the shaping of civilization and the workings of our contemporary world.

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Library Journal Review

The anecdote of the titular buttons is related in the introduction: supposedly, the tin buttons on the uniforms of Napoleon's army became brittle and disintegrated in the cold Russian winter, contributing to his defeat. Le Couteur, a chemistry teacher, and Burreson, an industrial chemist, expand this theme to explore how chemical properties of compounds have altered history. The impacts run the gamut from medicine (e.g., penicillin, vitamin C) to social change (e.g., the contraceptive pill and slavery perpetuated by the farming of glucose, or sugar cane, and cellulose, or cotton) to more direct historical incidents such as the Opium Wars or the spice trade spurring New World exploration. The authors violate the dictate of modern popular science writing that proscribes including chemical formulae but to good effect-by showing the structures of the compounds, they convey how shapes affect function. This book devotes more space to fewer substances than John Emsley's Molecules at an Exhibition, but it doesn't fall into the hyperbolic monomania of other popular "chemicals-that-changed-the-world" books like Simon Garfield's Mauve. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Libs. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

As a literary device, the proposition that the course of history would have been otherwise but for the intervention of emergent technology is a good one. From the buttons of the title to mother-in-law silk, the 17 mostly familiar stories in this book are pleasingly retold by Le Couteur (chemistry, Capilano College, British Columbia) and Burreson, an industrial chemist. But for serious readers, the genre has been better conceived and executed without condescension by others. These chemist authors deserve an editor with a more literary point of view. The collection frustratingly fails to get beyond pedantic style, gratuitous historical speculation, and, in too many cases, chemical formulas that just get in the way. Youthful readers, though, are likely to discover some of chemistry's most wonderful lessons from history in readable form. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduate through graduate students. L. W. Fine Columbia University

Booklist Review

Women who use birth control pills probably care more about their effectiveness than about how they actually work, and although ignorance here may be bliss, it also cheats one of a good science story, involving a driven chemist making a serendipitous discovery about cortisone. Le Couteur and Burreson roll out 17 episodes selected for their salience in affecting health as well as history at large. This pair of chemists doesn't overinterpret a particular chemical as a historical influence but makes speculating on, say, piperene, a sporting diversion. Piperene is the molecule that causes taste buds to sting from pepper. Venice had a monopoly on the pepper trade, which rivals wished to break, motivating the voyages of discovery. Although connections frame the authors' tales (the title refers to tin buttons, which contributed to Napoleon's defeat in Russia), each story dwells on its molecular protagonist. The authors diagram the formula and shape of each, from the polymer behind the sheen in silk to the ionic bonds in the taste of salt. Well-conceived, well-done popular science. --Gilbert Taylor

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

PENNY CAMERON LE COUTEUR, PH.D. , teaches chemistry at Capilano College in British Columbia, Canada, where she has been a professor for over thirty years. Winner of a Polysar Award for Outstanding Chemistry Teaching in Canadian Colleges, she was formerly the head of Capilano's chemistry department and was chair of pure and applied sciences. She has written chemistry distance-education courses, coauthored a chemistry textbook, and served as a project adviser in chemistry for universities in eastern Indonesia. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and now lives in North Vancouver.

JAY BURRESON, PH.D., has worked as an industrial chemist and held a National Institutes of Health special fellowship for research on chemical compounds in marine life. He is also the general manager of a high-tech company.