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Just read "The Last Alchemist in Paris : & Other Curious Tales From Chemistry" by Lars Ohrstrom. A series of short chapters on the intersections of chemistry and history. For example, the alchemist in the title is the Swedish playwright and polymath August Strindberg. Ohrstrom uses Strindberg's mental health issues as a springboard to discuss the biochemistry of lithium. Another chapter uses the myth of la Grande Armee's bursting tin buttons on the retreat from Moscow to discuss the chemistry of tin at low temperatures, and so on. Readable and entertaining.
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