It was a fun book, and I enjoyed reading through history through the people of chemistry. However, I did not enjoy the structure of the book focusing on the geographical rising of alchemy, rather than a true chronological pathway. Often times the book would make references to people either further along in the book or way is the past. The book also really relied on first-account documents, which then aren’t explained in depth, which is annoying when the translations aren’t perfect or you’re left with like old English or Latin to read.