Status Updates From Alchemy by E. J. Holmyard, ...

Paracelsus is the goat honestly of acknowledging the stupidity of alchemists before him, in how they make lies and how only they know the truth. Also English alchemist are so stupid

Very good on the materialism origins of Greek alchemy, and the spiritual origins of Chinese alchemy. The instruments section was a bit slow, but being able to connect tools to current chemistry equivalents helped.