Vanity, Vitality, and Virility sets out to explain in everyday language the nature and behaviour of around 40 ingredients that play important roles in modern living, ranging from lipstick to Viagra.

There are chapters on cosmetics, diet, sex, hygiene, depression, and polymers. The final chapter covers the causes of chemiphobia, in other words why people are now rejecting the benefits of chemistry, and suggest possible cures for the unpopularity of this science.

• Published: 2004
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 0192805096

Did you know?

The title was originally going to be Vanity, Vitality, and Viagra but using a registered product name in a title is risky. The pharmaceutical company which makes Viagra (Pfizer) might not like what I had written about their product so they could take out an injunction and have the book withdrawn from sale. (That only applies to the title of the book, they can't object to a book's comments on the product itself, because that would be infringing the author's freedom of speech.) So I had to find another 'v' word to keep the alliterative title and it became Vanity, Vitality, and Virility instead. It's about cosmetics, food and sex and the role which chemistry play in these areas of life.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Introduction
1. Vanity: no more wrinkles?
2. Vitality: food for thought
3. Virility, sterility and Viagra
4. Germs warfare
5. It's all in the mind
6. Polymers in disguise
• Postscript
• Chemiphobia, its causes, and cure
• Glossary
• Chemical concepts explained
• Bibliography
• Index