100 Chemical Myths

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

   PDF

2. Misconceptions in General

   • Lajos Kovács, Dezső Csupor, Gábor Lente, Tamás Gunda

   Pages 1-33

3. Food

   • Lajos Kovács, Dezső Csupor, Gábor Lente, Tamás Gunda

   Pages 35-117

4. Medicines

   • Lajos Kovács, Dezső Csupor, Gábor Lente, Tamás Gunda

   Pages 119-234

5. Catastrophes, Poisons, Chemicals

   • Lajos Kovács, Dezső Csupor, Gábor Lente, Tamás Gunda

   Pages 235-310

6. Back Matter

   Pages 311-396

   PDF

100 Chemical Myths deals with popular yet largely untrue misconceptions and misunderstandings related to chemistry. It contains lucid and concise explanations cut through fallacies and urban legends that are universally relevant to a global audience. A wide range of chemical myths are explored in these areas; food, medicines, catastrophes, chemicals, and environmental problems. Connections to popular culture, literature, movies, and cultural history hold the reader’s interest whilst key concepts are beautifully annotated with illustrations to facilitate the understanding of unfamiliar material. Chemical Myths Demystified is pitched to individuals without a formal chemistry background to fledgling undergraduate chemists to seasoned researchers and beyond.

• Busting Chemical Myths
• Chemistry Misconceptions
• Concepts in Chemistry
• Myths in Chemistry
• Myths of Chemistry
• Urban Chemistry Myths

Selected by Choice magazine as an "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2015

“100 Chemical Myths … entertainingly explains in spirited stories the misconceptions and misunderstandings embalmed within the discipline of chemistry, which have so often made it little more than alchemy. … the authors have thoughtfully compiled a 30-page annotated bibliography to accompany their 100 myths, giving voice and validity to their stories. … Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.” (L. W. Fine, Choice, Vol. 52 (8), April, 2015)

“100 Chemical Myths – Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, Explanations will come in handy for most of the commonly-asked questions. … Over approximately 400 pages, the authors … tackled a huge variety of such myths, debunking some of them and explaining others. … for a life scientist it makes a delightful, satisfying read … .” (Julia Eckhoff, Lab Times, Issue 4, August, 2016)

“It provides a comprehensive collection of explanations for occurrences all around us. It is a valuable resource for updating our background knowledge on day-to-day subjects. This book can be recommended both for the bookshelf of every scientist and as an attractive gift for everybody with common sense and some scientific interest.” (Reiner Salzer, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Vol. 407 (13), May, 2015)

“In their book, first published in Hungarian in 2011 and now available in English, Lajos Kovács and colleagues set out to debunk 100 such myths and misconceptions. … many of the chapters come across as collections of scientific facts on vaguely consumer-relevant topics such as food additives or medicines. … the book is handy as a reference for those who have doubts concerning a particular viral factoid or who want to cure others of specific misconceptions.” (Michael Gross, Chemistry World, rsc.org, January, 2015)

“This excellent book indeed covers 100 ‘myths’ in chemistry and related sciences. … Organized by chapter, source references as well as references for further reading are shown at the end of the book. … Highly recommended for a wide variety of audiences.” (Robert E. (Bob) Buntrock, Chemical Information Bulletin, Vol. 67 (3), 2015)

• Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

  Lajos Kovács

• Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

  Dezső Csupor

• Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

  Gábor Lente

• Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

  Tamás Gunda

Dr. Lajos Kovács
University of Szeged
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Dóm tér 8
6720 Szeged
Hungary

Dr. Dezső Csupor
University of Szeged
Institute of Pharmacognosy
Eötvös u. 6
6720 Szeged
Hungary

Dr. Gábor Lente
University of Debrecen
Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry
Egyetem tér 1
4010 Debrecen
Hungary

Prof. Tamás Gunda
University of Debrecen
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Egyetem tér 1
4010 Debrecen
Hungary

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