Chain Reaction

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 START THE WEEK

'A hymn to chemistry'. Tom Sutcliffe, BBC Radio 4 Start the Week

'Nowhere have I seen chemistry described so lucidly, comprehensively and made so fun.' Jim Al-Khalili

'This book will change how you see the world.' The Hon. Julia Gillard AC, 27th Prime Minister of Australia

'A brilliant book.' Baroness Mannigham-Buller

All around us are ever-evolving strings of chain reactions, of bonds forged and broken, of connections made and unmade in less than the blink of an eye.

In Chain Reaction, Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu dives into the chemistry that underpins our everyday existence. With warmth and personal anecdotes about the chemistry that has shaped her life, Uchegbu takes us on a journey exploring how our bodies are held together by weak chemical bonds, how our constituent molecules start to break up once our heart stops beating, how our food is stitched together by a careful exploitation of chemical bonds at the interface between water and oil, and exactly what the fibres in our clothes are made of. To be human is to be a walking chemical reaction, as our individual cells are all powered by careful co-ordination of chemistry.

From hairdressing disasters and laundry mishaps to life-saving medicines and kitchen experiments, this eye-opening book reveals that chemical processes are all around us, defining our interactions with the world we live in. This is a story that's both universal and personal, grand and intimate, and it will change the way you see everything.