Lessons in Chemistry

I’ve taken against books whose covers and inside pages come crammed with plaudits from all and sundry. I’ve been disappointed too many times to place any value in them. I mean, I’m happy for Richard E Grant that he likes a book, but since I don’t know him and never will, I’m really not sure how much use his endorsement is. For all I know, he’s also a fan of Tupperware guides.

So I was all set to avoid this book too until a friend whose judgment I trust recommended it. Highly. I bought it, and boy, am I happy I did. It’s funny. It’s charming. And deadly serious.

Quite how a story about a female chemist in the early 1960s, putting up with seventeen tons of fuckwittery from assorted moronic males, but who then goes on to host a massively successful TV cooking show can be all three of those adjectives is a testament to Bonnie Garmus’ enormous talent. 

I won't bother writing any more. This book deserves to sell billions of copies.