Napoleon's Buttons

In Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History, chemists Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson discuss chemicals, largely organic, that had a major impact on human society. They cover spices, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), glucose, cellulose, dyes, the pill, olive oil, chlorocarbons, and several other chemicals.

For each substance, they display the chemical structure and explain the chemical reactions that made each substance important. They discuss the origins of each chemical (plants, animals, or laboratories) and efforts to grow, generate, and trade each chemical or a variation with similar properties. They provide a larger perspective of how each chemical affected human history.

The chapter on glucose, as one example, describes the different kinds of sugars, their structure, why they taste sweet, and various sugar substitutes. Sugar was first grown in the south Pacific or India, arrived to Europe with the returning Crusaders, and was planted in large plantations in the New World. The need for workers on those plantations led to much of the slave trade from Africa.

Much of Napoleon's Buttons focused on chemistry, which I found quite interesting since I’ve never studied organic chemistry. The real-world consequences of each chemical made it seem much more relevant than most science books. Also, I gained some appreciation of the influence of chemistry, which is easy to overlook in a world that makes a much bigger deal about electronic technology.