"The Secrets of Alchemy"

The Secrets of Alchemy (Lawrence Principe)

I feel like I'm repeating myself lately when making statements that my biggest complaint about a book is that I wanted more of it, but I can't help it. This is a slim little tome (Amazon says 296 pages, but I think the main text barely topped 200) - in this small space the author fits in both a history of alchemy and several practical experiments he conducted following the ancient instructions. This is rather fascinating, not to mention pretty educational, and as alluded to above, my only gripe was that I wanted the author to go more in-depth on the history and do more experiments with the classical recipes. On the other hand, I don't want to give the impression that the author is only skimming the surface; the history section goes so far as to include a section on the cultural impact of alchemy and chemistry, including several poems that are more fun than they have any right to be when read aloud to your wife at Applebee's. So uh, recommended.

Grade: A