“I dreamed of becoming a chemist (which my children
assure me reveals the true geekiness at the core of my personality). I changed
my mind on the day that I set my hair on fire—think long, dangling braids,
think Bunsen burner….A chemistry lab is a dangerous place for an absent-minded
daydreamer of a student—namely, me.”—American science and
history author and journalist Deborah Blum, The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (2010)
