I really enjoyed The Emperor of All Maladies--I wrote about that book sort of recently on this very blog. As I was reading it, I thought "wouldn't it be fun if there was a similar book about the history of vitamins? Something fun to read, easy to understand? That would be so useful at work!" I don't know if you've ever tried to delve into the science of vitamins, but it can get deathly boring fast.So I started looking around. I found this book: Vitamin Discoveries and Disasters, by Frances Rachel Frankennurg. It's not quite the compelling read that Emperor of All Maladies was. But it's written in a charming way. The author uses plain and matter-of-fact writing, but she has uncovered lots of amusing anecdotes about the discovery of vitamins--and an understated sense of humor lurks behind the stories throughout. It's sort of written in the style of a bed-time story for dorky children, à la Microbe Hunters by Paul de Krief. Anyway, if you're interested in what vitamins do and how we figured that out, then this is a decent choice!
-Kristin
1 comment:
I would like to know more about vitamins. I wish I ate better.
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