The use of poison has always inspired writers. Here are five of the best books chosen by biologist Noah Whiteman based on harmful concoctions.
Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Dr Giacomo Rappaccini’s living laboratory is where he breeds plants that produce potent drugs. His daughter Beatrice grows up in the garden, but she herself becomes toxic.
The Herb of Death: A Miss Marple Short Story by Agatha Christie
In this novella, Miss Marple solves a foxglove poisoning at a dinner party. All who attend fall ill, but only one of them dies. So, was it a terrible accident? Or was it murder?
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Carson focuses on the indiscriminate use of human-made environmental poisons. Her focus on potential off-target effects helped usher in a new era for environmental regulation.
The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy by Adrienne Mayor
In this Mithridates VI Eupator biog, Mayor traces the life and reign of the man who ruled the ancient kingdom of Pontus. We learn how his late father was poisoned and how Mithridates attempted to avoid the same fate.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
In 1959, a young American missionary family moves Georgia state to a village in the Belgian Congo. Young Ruth Ann is suddenly struck by a green mamba and succumbs to its complex neurotoxic venom, only to rise again, in spirit.
