Home Bio Contact Books:   Prometheans in the Lab Nobel Prize Women in Science Iron, Nature's Universal Element Sharon Bertsch McGrayne is the author of books about science and scientists. She is a former prize-winning journalist for Scripps-Howard, Crain's, Gannett, and other newspapers and a former editor and writer about physics for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. She has spoken at many scientific conferences, national laboratories, and universities here and abroad. A graduate of Swarthmore College, she lives in Seattle, Washington. "The author is a skilled interpreter of science for the general public."   - American Journal of Physics "The author is a good story-teller."  - Chemical & Engineering News Sharon McGrayne is at work on a book entitled Bayes's Rule, to be published by Basic Books in 2007. Latest book from Sharon Bertsch McGrayne: Buy this book at the University of Washington on-line bookstore: www.bookstore.washington.edu Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World August 2001, McGraw Hill Publishers The lives of nine chemists who changed our everyday lives and the tangled relationship between technology's benefits and drawbacks. "Absorbing." - Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything "Appealing... humbling... moving. It's good to get a bit of perspective and this book provides just that." - New Scientist. "Thoughtful and thought-provoking. An excellent job of describing the chemical processes and their legacies -- both beneficial and unintended." - C&EN "This book is a gem! Rarely have I seen chemistry so clearly and eloquently explained, while still showing all its shortcomings.... A good and easy read." - AAAS Science Books and Films. "Artfully combines scientific, economic, political, and sociological implications of the discoveries by focusing on the inventors and their lives." -NSTA Recommends. "A compelling read... many fascinating stories... an ambitious book, and well- researched." - Nature "On your next trip to the bookstore bypass the action adventure thrillers and seek out Prometheans in the Lab... I wish that McGrayne's book were twice its length." - PopularMechanics.com "Evenhanded... [describes] both the benefits that chemists have conferred on the world and the social and environmental problems that they have inadvertently caused.... this is indeed unsuual, if not unique... Her portraits of warts-and-all personalities and private lives are engaging.... both important and complicated. Well done and worth reading -- certainly for students, but even for academic historians." - Isis "Masterly... exciting and absorbing. McGrayne critically examines the tangled and complicated interrelationships between the public's insistence on progress and comfort and the need to preserve the eenvironment. The central thesis of McGrayne's book [is] that science in general and chemistry in particular can solve any problems that it has unintentionally created. ... Meticulously documented. - The Chemical Educator.