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Chain Reaction: How Chemistry Shapes Us and Our World
By one of the world’s leading chemists, an entertaining and revealing tour of the chemical bonds that shape our everyday lives and provide the infrastructure for our chaotic world.
We all have a relationship with chemistry. Bonds between molecules, forged and broken in the blink of an eye, underpin everything from the food we eat and the clothes we wear to the ways we treat illnesses and construct our homes. It’s a relationship we nurture, whether we know it or not, and for leading chemist Ijeoma Uchegbu, it was serious from the beginning.
In Chain Reaction, Uchegbu shows us the world through a chemist’s eyes, revealing the intricate science we take for granted: how our body’s most fundamental chemical structure, our DNA, is estimated to be two meters long, resting tightly within each of our cells; how egg yolks are held together by weak chemical bonds that make them primed for emulsifying our salad dressings; and how the chemical makeup of PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” makes them so good at sticking around.
Along the way, we travel from Uchegbu’s home in London to Nigeria, where cooking experiments go awry in her family kitchen, and to Italy, where the chemically inert compounds that make up stained glass keep medieval windows shining. The careful interplay of bonds and molecules brings a sense of order and wonder to the chaos of our lives, she shows, and we don’t have to wear a lab coat or study solutions in beakers to appreciate it.
For readers of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and anyone who wanted to be like Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry, Chain Reaction is a lively and intimate portrait of the wondrous and under-explored field that shapes our everyday lives.
We all have a relationship with chemistry. Bonds between molecules, forged and broken in the blink of an eye, underpin everything from the food we eat and the clothes we wear to the ways we treat illnesses and construct our homes. It’s a relationship we nurture, whether we know it or not, and for leading chemist Ijeoma Uchegbu, it was serious from the beginning.
In Chain Reaction, Uchegbu shows us the world through a chemist’s eyes, revealing the intricate science we take for granted: how our body’s most fundamental chemical structure, our DNA, is estimated to be two meters long, resting tightly within each of our cells; how egg yolks are held together by weak chemical bonds that make them primed for emulsifying our salad dressings; and how the chemical makeup of PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” makes them so good at sticking around.
Along the way, we travel from Uchegbu’s home in London to Nigeria, where cooking experiments go awry in her family kitchen, and to Italy, where the chemically inert compounds that make up stained glass keep medieval windows shining. The careful interplay of bonds and molecules brings a sense of order and wonder to the chaos of our lives, she shows, and we don’t have to wear a lab coat or study solutions in beakers to appreciate it.
For readers of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and anyone who wanted to be like Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry, Chain Reaction is a lively and intimate portrait of the wondrous and under-explored field that shapes our everyday lives.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 9, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A delightful overview of some of the ways chemistry is integral to our daily lives.
This book, written by a leading chemist, shows up how chemistry impacts every aspect of our daily lives. In chapters focused on everything from clothing to buildings to medicine to death, we get a chance to understand how chemistry works in these contexts, interwoven with autobiographical stories to ground the science in things we can all understand.
First off, I really enjoy the bits of the author's life mixed into the science descriptions. It really helps to illustrate the concepts that she's teaching us throughout the book. Her definitions and explanations mean that we don't have to remember anything from our high school chemistry classes to follow the information she is imparting. I also like that the book is divided into chapters based on areas in our lives, so that we can immediately contextualize new learning.
To me, the one thing that keeps this book from being five stars is also an inherent requirement when covering such a large topic: we don't get a chance to dig into any of the chemistry concepts in enough detail. We really only have a chance to get a surface-level understanding of the science. I wish that we can more explicit ways to dig deeper (maybe suggested reading to go with each chapter?).
Overall, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about chemistry or our world. It's easy to jump in and out of as we explore topics in each chapter and it's very accessible.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.
This book, written by a leading chemist, shows up how chemistry impacts every aspect of our daily lives. In chapters focused on everything from clothing to buildings to medicine to death, we get a chance to understand how chemistry works in these contexts, interwoven with autobiographical stories to ground the science in things we can all understand.
First off, I really enjoy the bits of the author's life mixed into the science descriptions. It really helps to illustrate the concepts that she's teaching us throughout the book. Her definitions and explanations mean that we don't have to remember anything from our high school chemistry classes to follow the information she is imparting. I also like that the book is divided into chapters based on areas in our lives, so that we can immediately contextualize new learning.
To me, the one thing that keeps this book from being five stars is also an inherent requirement when covering such a large topic: we don't get a chance to dig into any of the chemistry concepts in enough detail. We really only have a chance to get a surface-level understanding of the science. I wish that we can more explicit ways to dig deeper (maybe suggested reading to go with each chapter?).
Overall, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about chemistry or our world. It's easy to jump in and out of as we explore topics in each chapter and it's very accessible.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.
June 16, 2026
I am a retired organic chemist, Ph.D., with 40 years of industrial experience.
The author’s credentials in the book jacket did not mention her being a chemist but she stated some things about chemicals that were confusing or incorrect:
Page 13: “Ionic bonds are the strongest bonds imaginable and they keep things like the atoms in cooking salt together.” (author forgot to add: “…until the salt is added to water.”). NO: first of all, a salt molecule (chemical formula is NaCl, which was never given in the book), is NOT comprised of atoms. It is comprised of two ions: a sodium cation and a chloride anion. The author never uses the words "cation"or "anion". The sodium chloride crystals will dissolve in water and all of the sodium cations and chloride anions will be surrounded by water molecules, which will cause the sodium and chloride ions to dissociate (spread out or disperse) completely in water. The text implied that the cations will become separated from the anions. You cannot collect a beaker of sodium cations. You cannot collect a beaker of chloride anions.
I tried to put myself in the the general reader's head while struggling through the book. The author violated one of the very basic rules of writing: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This book did not have even one chemical formula, nor chemical structure, nor chemical illustration to help the lay reader with the narrative. I gave up on the book.
The author’s credentials in the book jacket did not mention her being a chemist but she stated some things about chemicals that were confusing or incorrect:
Page 13: “Ionic bonds are the strongest bonds imaginable and they keep things like the atoms in cooking salt together.” (author forgot to add: “…until the salt is added to water.”). NO: first of all, a salt molecule (chemical formula is NaCl, which was never given in the book), is NOT comprised of atoms. It is comprised of two ions: a sodium cation and a chloride anion. The author never uses the words "cation"or "anion". The sodium chloride crystals will dissolve in water and all of the sodium cations and chloride anions will be surrounded by water molecules, which will cause the sodium and chloride ions to dissociate (spread out or disperse) completely in water. The text implied that the cations will become separated from the anions. You cannot collect a beaker of sodium cations. You cannot collect a beaker of chloride anions.
I tried to put myself in the the general reader's head while struggling through the book. The author violated one of the very basic rules of writing: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This book did not have even one chemical formula, nor chemical structure, nor chemical illustration to help the lay reader with the narrative. I gave up on the book.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A unique mixture of biography and popular science in which the author explores the much under appreciated role of chemistry in every day life. Accessible and enjoyable
June 24, 2026
This is so beautiful, I love your book!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews