PositiveThe Wall Street JournalThe framing narrative of Mr. Miodownik’s plane journey personalizes the story, but there were stretches where he devotes too much space to it, particularly to personal anecdotes that are only tangentially related. Rather than spend several pages on blind taste tests and his personal preferences for different wines, for example, he might have explained in greater detail exactly why, despite their near-identical chemical composition, even a small dose of methanol is lethal while ethanol (the form of alcohol in beverages) is not. This reservation aside, Liquid Rules is an entertaining discussion of the various ways our lives are enriched by fluids. From the physics of ballpoint pens to the origin of jet-aircraft contrails, the book rewards the reader with fascinating facts and insights.
