Here’s a disclaimer. If you walk into a coffee shop with The Poisoner’s Handbook, and you start to flirt with the cute barista, hold the book so that the title is not showing. It’s not the best icebreaker to justify why you are reading a book about the different ways New Yorkers poisoned each other from 1915-1936.
Absentmindedly, I put my book down on the counter, face up, as I stirred the sugar into my coffee. The barista, Alex I believe her name was, glanced at the book discretely, and then, after processing the title a moment, decided not to mention my choice of literature. “Can I help you sir,” she quickly said to the next customer in line.
Aside from the inability to use the book to find a date, The Poisoner’s Handbook is a fascinating and comprehensive read. Science writer Deborah Blum has chronicled the many ways people were poisoned throughout the 1900s by providing a history of Charles Norris, New York’s first chief medical examiner, and many important figures involved with forensic toxicology. From Chloroform to Thallium, Blum lays out a highly detailed picture, complete with much of the accompanying chemistry of how forensic toxicology became a game changer for our country’s justice system.
Blum describes in great detail the chemistry behind each of the poisons, how people accessed them, and how the medical examiners were able to detect traces of the chemicals in cadavers. These details significantly enhance the short narrative in each chapter, documenting a specific criminal investigation for each poison, and at the same time illustrating the progression of Charles Norris’s career with his lead chemist Alexander Gettler.
I give the book 3 out of 5 stars because the chemistry was a little too heavy for me, and I found myself skipping over many of the technical explanations. However, it was a nice blend of narrative and science, and I have to admit, I learned a lot about how not to poison myself. Just don’t use it as an icebreaker on your first date.
Literature and Life 