Toxicology! Because What You Don't Know Can Kill You

by Alan H.B. Wu

"Toxicology! Because what you don't know can kill you" is about everyday people and their encounters with the clinical laboratory. This collection of stories is a behind-the-scenes look at the intricate workings of a toxicology lab. Many of these cases ended with legal consequences. All stories are based on my involvement with real cases as a toxicologist. Because of patient privacy laws, the names and places have been changed. We all wish we had more power. The power to turn back time, to re-write history and make better decisions, but most importantly, the power to save a life. However, the dream of being someone’s hero or even saving yourself from certain death or misfortune is a plight that no average person can seemingly muster. Without super strength or extrasensory perceptions, it may appear that we are on our own to battle uncertain destiny. But what if I were to tell you there’s more? There’s a way to change your fate, to hold more cards, and take not only your own life, but the lives of those you love into your hands. No, we cannot go back in time, but we can set forth ripples of change into the future that can alter our coexistence forever. Toxicology and clinical laboratory testing may be one of those portals.

473 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 12, 2014

Reviews

[Cecile · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected. The title was misleading. It should be “Clinical chemist enlightens medical and legal experts who have trouble interpreting lab tests.” The author should keep his day job, because his poor fiction writing skills distracted the reader from the scientific points he wanted to make. As noted by other reviewers, the author should have refrained from making himself a character hero in each story. I nearly stopped reading the first story, when the author narrator was lusting after a brilliant pathologist, his former student who happened to have a hot body. At the end of each story, the author offered a mix of facts, commentary and feelings of his work. It’s perfectly okay for the author to use his book as a soapbox: hardly anyone recognizes the work lab professionals do. Yet, those who hoped for more traditional case studies and “toxicology pearls” to study should select another book.

[Phoebe223 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and an eye opener.

[Nadia Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly entertaining and jumpstarted my obsession with toxicology in the 8th grade!

[Alex Markle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes cases that are interesting, sad, and infuriating. The writing style tends to be choppy, with plenty of typos.

[Nur Farihin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed the book but I don't like how the the author writes his narrative. The back of the book did say 'all stories are based on real events and occurrences but to protect the privacy of others, the people and places are fictitious' but to me, the way he writes it makes me uncomfortable. Like how do you even know the characters feel that way, or they act a certain way because they were thinking this or that. Eventhough they were written as fictitious, they were based on real characters and events so assuming that they were feeling that way, or did 'that' because of yada yada, just feels wrong to me. Maybe if he just sticks to first person narrative without adding character dialogue unless he talks to them would be much better. That's just my opinion.

[cisco pike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging read

I am often turned off by writers who know nothing about drugs or drug usage. This writer knows all about drugs and their effects. Great true stories about strange substances and their aftermath.