The Book Prize Index

The Consumer’s Good Chemical Guide

John Emsley

The Guide explains in accessible, non-technical language the science behind sugar and artificial sweeteners; cholesterol, animal fats and fibre; painkillers, and the risks associated with taking drugs; plastics and PVC; dioxins and nitrates in the environment; and carbon dioxide and the greenhouse gases. Also included are chapters on two products which are entirely chemical, but commonly not thought of as such: perfume and alcohol. Here, the reader discovers that not only do fragrance chemicals give a great deal of innocent pleasure, their synthetic versions have been responsible for reducing the large-scale slaughter of some wild animals; and that alcohol can not only improve the quality of life, it may even prolong it.

ScienceScience · medium confidenceScience81 signalsLlm Classifier: Science -> ScienceOpen Library: Medical misconceptions -> Medicine & Public HealthOpen Library: Consumer education -> Society & CultureDisease, Epidemics & DrugsDrugs, Addiction & TreatmentNatural History & AnimalsScience & Discovery

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Royal Society Science Book PrizeMajor1995WinnerSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    50 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 38%.