Nature’s Poisons: Tales of the World’s Most Wicked Creations

When we think about “toxins” today, we’re most likely to think of human-made pollutants; by contrast, what is “natural” feels safe. But as forensic toxicologist Justin Brower shows in Nature’s Poisons, from poisonous vines to venomous creatures, fungal toxins to deadly foods, there’s plenty to beware in nature, too. Taking us on a tour of our poisonous world, he reveals how these toxins have been tools of murder and war, but also of medicine, recreation, and ritual. We witness a nineteen-year-old Arthur Conan Doyle’s self-experimentation with gelseminum, discover the truth about truth serums, and learn to think twice about eating that mushroom or berry in the forest. Nature’s Poisons unveils evolution’s creativity and humanity’s ingenuity while exploring the dark side of nature and human impulses. Beauty and danger, harm and healing can exist within the very same leaf, seed, or fang—and in every one is a story.