Overview

It's in our food, our clothes, and our homes. It's microplastic and it's everywhere--including our own bodies. Scientists are just beginning to discover how these tiny particles threaten health, but the studies are alarming. In A Poison Like No Other, Matt Simon reveals a whole new dimension to the plastic crisis. Dealing with discarded plastic is bad enough, but when it starts to break down, the real trouble begins. The very thing that makes plastic so useful and ubiquitous--its toughness--means it never really goes away. It just gets smaller and smaller: eventually small enough to enter your lungs or be absorbed by crops or penetrate a fish's muscle tissue before it becomes dinner. Unlike other pollutants, microplastics represent a cocktail of toxicity: plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers. A Poison Like No Other is the first book to fully explore this public health threat. As Simon learns from these researchers, there is no easy fix. But we will never curb our plastic addiction until we begin to recognize the invisible particles all around us.

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Reviews

"""Informed, utterly blindsiding account."" -- ""Booklist (starred review)"" ""Simon contends, plastic pollution is an often overlooked contributor to climate change...Even though 'all the pieces of plastic great and small are out there for good, ' writes the author, 'we can at least turn down the tap.' A convincing treatment of a subject that will remain relevant for years to come."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" ""Simon's urgent new book...is classified as environmental science but could comfortably be labeled as horror...Densely reported; nearly every sentence is a harrowing, footnoted stat...isn't necessarily a fun read. But it is unforgettable."" -- ""San Francisco Chronicle"""

Author Information

Matt Simon is a science journalist at Wired magazine, where he covers the environment, biology, and robotics. He is the author of three nonfiction books, including Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal about Our World--and Ourselves and The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar: Evolution's Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life's Biggest Problems. He enjoys long walks on the beach and trying not to think about all the microplastics there. Adam Verner is a full-time narrator and voice talent with over one hundred titles recorded. He is the recipient of AudioFile Earphones Awards for Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck and The Big It by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Adam earned his MFA in acting from the Chicago College of the Fine Arts at Roosevelt University.

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