For those concerned with the current epidemic of chemophobia and anti-science attitudes rampant in today's society and that should include all of usthis book, which received the 1995 RhBne-Poulenc Science Book Prize, brings good news. Its author, John Emsley, recipient o f the 1993 Glaxo Award for Science Writing, spent a quarter-century lecturing at the University of London and is now Science Writer in Residence at London's Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. In this successful attempt to counter the "bad press" created for chemistry by scare-of-theweek stories, he deals with timely issues frequently in the news by systematically exposing misinformation disseminated by irresponsible media about chemicals with which we daily come in contact. In accessible, nontechnical language he presents up-to-date information on natural and artificial sweeteners, cholesterol, fats, fiber. painkillers. PVC. plastics, dioxins, nitrates. and carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect. In separate chapters he showa how perfume chemists are trying to make the world a better place and simultaneously saving wildlife and how alcohol can not only improve the quality of life but may also prolong it. Some chemicals about which the public is worried, such as CFCs, lead, or radon are not included for the simple reason that they actually ure dangerous (the book's title refers to good chemicals that are only generally ass~tmed to be had).