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If you're interested in other terrifying compounds be sure to read 'Ignition'.[0]

My footnote is for a scan of the original printing but I believe the book has have recently been reprinted in multiple formats. Regardless of the format you choose, it's a hell of a read.

[0] https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pd...




I've tried to read it, and while I can see it's an entertaining read, at the same time it reads like a long string of chemical compounds and formulas being read. I'd only recommend it if you have a better grasp of and interest in chemistry than I have.


From my recollection (I haven't re-read it recently), it's pretty easy to skip the raw chem stuff if you're not interested.

Though that may be a skill I acquired from my youth misspent reading Alexandre Dumas and Jules Vernes (as writers of serials, padding chapters was a very common occurrence which makes for frustrating reads when you hit 5 pages of fishes in 20000 leagues under, the ability to quickly skim and skip is necessary to reach the end).


I agree. I muddled through it because the non-technical 25% made it worthwhile and the writing was very nice.




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