Chemicals of Life (Signet Books)

By Isaac Asimov

Book Overview

Poisons kill, wonder drugs cure, health and life depend upon the billions of cells that make the human body . . .Asimov tells how and why. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451001397
• ISBN13: 9780451001399
• Release Date: February 1967
• Publisher: New American Library
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Still a good primer on how chemicals make life

Written in 1954, some of the material and current facts in this book are dated. However, Asimov is such a good expository writer that in most cases it does not matter. He covers the basics of proteins, vitamins and enzymes in such a lucid style that it is still possible to learn a great deal of the basics from this book. Since it is designed to explain the fundamentals of the complex chemicals of life and most of the advances since the writing are in the working out of the details, there are very few places where his statements are incorrect. Asimov starts with the structure of proteins, how they are built, their complex structure and how they act as catalysts throughout the human body. This is followed by explanations of vitamins, how they work, their structure and what happens when the body experiences a shortage. The final sections deal with hormones, where they are produced and how they interact to control the metabolism of the body. Fifty years after it was written, I can still recommend this book as a primer on the fundamental chemistry of the mammalian body. While many things have changed since then, the quality of the writing trumps nearly all of the obsolescence.

What are you made of?

Asimov does a good job describing the process of the human body's in take and use of chemicals. From the air we breath, the food we eat, the effect of sun on our skin (making Vitamin D) and many more. Step by step explaination. Some with diagram. All simplified and in a language a non-medical person can understand.