The Public Life of Chemistry

The Cultural Society, 2018

“Dialogue and uncertainty seem to be in short supply these days, but Joel Bettridge's The Public Life of Chemistry aims to rehabilitate them. A series of letters to and from poet friends structures his book and creates an approach to knowledge that is less information than in formation. Quantum theory teaches that there is only relation. The Public Life of Chemistry seeks to demonstrate this in both its form and content, while not ignoring the modern age's legacy of violence.”  — Alan Gilbert