Naturally Dangerous

“Aiming to improve readers’ scientific literacy, Naturally Dangerous examines the risks involved in the choices we make about what we eat, how we treat our illnesses and how much time we spend out in the sun. From electric blankets to monosodium glutamate to genetically engineered foods, Collman steers a reasoned, sensible course through the potentially hazardous straits of everyday life…if you treat Collman’s book as a sampler of solid advice, you won’t finish it feeling hungry.” –The Washington Post

“Collman’s scientific acumen is evident throughout this book. Only an excellent communicator with a profound understanding of a subject can provide such clear and simple explanations of facts, making them totally accessible to nonscientists and at the same time satisfying to chemists. In this slim and engaging volume, Collman broaches in a lucid, no-nonsense style exactly what the title proffers…This is no doom-and-gloom treatise. It’s an adult, scholarly look at the risks involved with the choices we make.” –Chemical and Engineering News

“…makes an effective case for not accepting the simple equation ‘natural = safe.’ In addition to food, [Collman] covers herbal medicines, environmental pollution, global warming, electromagnetic radiation and radioactivity.” –Nature

“More books like this need to be written — and read…If you think the sky is falling, that cancer is imminent, and that all things natural or ‘organic’ are wonderful, open this book and surprise yourself with the facts.” –Choice

“Professor James Collman of Stanford University has provided an excellent resource for all of us who try to help our students and the general public to discriminate between valid science and the bogus scientific claims that pervade television, the Internet, the grocery store, and especially the health food store.” –Hal Harris, Hal’s Pick of the Month, Journal of Chemical Education

“This is one of the most valuable books on public health policy – not merely on environmental policy – to have been written for the intelligent general reader in recent years. Its author is James P. Collman, the George A. and Hilda M. Daubert Professor of Chemistry at Stanford. His target is scientific illiteracy and its effects on public opinion about what is hazardous; overblown health scares reported daily by the news media; and futile government efforts to craft consumer protection policies.” –The Stanford Report