Napoleon's Buttons

17 Molecules That Changed History

By: Penny Le Couteur, Jay Burreson

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of 17 groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration and made possible the voyages of discovery that ensued. The molecules resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine and law; they determined what we now eat, drink, and wear. A change as small as the position of an atom can lead to enormous alterations in the properties of a substance - which, in turn, can result in great historical shifts.

With lively prose and an eye for colorful and unusual details, Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson offer a novel way to understand the shaping of civilization and the workings of our contemporary world.

©2003 Micron Geological Ltd and Jay Burreson (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Well-conceived, well-done popular science." ( Booklist)

Needs to be required reading for science majors

Once you get passed the very mechanical sounding narration, this book is an absolute gem. I would recommend it to anyone who loves learning about the world around them as well as those who are in college studying science. This book really helps to make chemistry more approachable and memorable.

Not what I expected

Still a very interesting read. I am better for it. Highly recommend to fill in what really matters in history. It ain't what they tell you. It is much more interesting.

Informative and fascinating

Unlike the previous reviewer I found this to be a more interesting book than ???The Disappearing Spoon???. Both are very good books, but I did learn a lot more from this book. A lot of knowledge is imparted through interesting stories with good narration. The authors do, perhaps, get a little more into the slavery issue than the book requires, but it is brief and in no way detracted from the chemical stories for me. It is not like they were preaching. I liked the book enough to listen again to get what I probably missed due to listening while driving. I highly recommend this book.

thoughtful and impressive

If you could sum up Napoleon's Buttons in three words, what would they be?

Great read, fabulous info, good narrative, history we never get in school.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Napoleon's Buttons?

The tin button fell apart under severe winter condition causing Napoleon's defeat - how simple.

Any additional comments?

Not recommended read for simpletons devoid of education in sciences, history and deprived of intellectual curiosity, I believe.

Interesting Trivia

Would you listen to Napoleon's Buttons again? Why?

Not really...so many books, so little time. I did find it interesting; however, I wish my knowledge of chemistry were more extensive.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked how history turned on some interesting chemical discoveries.

What does Laural Merlington bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She is a very engaging and expressive narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I were on a long road trip as a passenger, Yes. Otherwise, I like to listen to one lecture per day.

Any additional comments?

A person with a solid chemistry background would really enjoy this book.

Hit and miss

The book made some interesting connections however it suffered from hopping around. At the end of each chapter there would be a clean up section where they would briefly mention various other detail it's from history regarding the subject matter. I was not a fan of these as it was an extension of the hopping around issue. I had just come from reading Liquid Rules and the subjects flowed much better. I was not a huge fan of the narration though it was ok.

Excellent book, terrible narration

Would you try another book from Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson and/or Laural Merlington?

The first time a term was read, it would usually be done correctly, but after that it would nearly always be pronounced incorrectly. Not to mention the number of terms that were never pronounced correctly at all. Really should have had one of the authors read, or at least be there during the recording, since no organic chemist that I know of would have let that number of glaring mistakes slide.

How could the performance have been better?

Narration clearly done by someone without a science background who had no idea how to pronounce more than half of the technical terms in the text.

Bring chemistry into my world

I loved the bridge between history and daily living today that was created. It was great !

great book

I read this book back in college and enjoyed going back to it. the chemistry language was hard to follow for anyone else listening but was fine for anyone with some organic chemistry background

Goog story poorly performed

I had to cringe at the all too frequent mispronunciations. one would think that a narrator would seek guidance from someone who is familiar with this language before producing this recording. Using the propper language in chemistry is vitally important to understanding structure. This was a big failure on the part of the narrator.

The story was well written and had a good thesis.