Poison or Medicine? How Plants, Powders, and Pills Influenced the History of Medicine

From bunches of dried herbs and alcoholic elixirs to high-tech medications and multimillion-dollar businesses — this is the path that medicines we take every day have traveled. Science journalist Thomas Hedger decided to explore what genius discoveries and accidental findings have given us painkillers, contraceptives, and antibiotics. This book is a biography of ten of the most important drugs that changed medicine. Among them, you will not find the «greatest hits» like penicillin or aspirin, as much has already been written about them. Instead, the author will introduce you to the amazing stories of lesser-known but no less significant medicines and show their dual nature. You will visit the office of a medieval alchemist and a chemical laboratory, learn what attempts were made to treat with heroin, and take a glimpse into the future of medications, realizing how random coincidences can change the lives of entire generations.