When I was 12 years old, I received a chemistry set for Christmas. This set had all the chemicals, test tubes, alcohol burner, and an instruction book filled with hundreds of experiment. Much to my dismay you can no longer purchase chemistry sets like this. This is too bad, as not only did I learn about the scientific method, (chemistry was one of my favorite high school subjects); but I also picked up a healthy respect for chemical compounds. These set where quite safe, but in today’s litigious, drug and terrorist fearing climate, the home chemistry set has gone the way of the Dodo.
Fortunately there are people who don’t think this way. Robert Thompson’s excellent book, Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry, works hard to recreate the home chemistry set. Never mind the fact that you have to search down all the chemicals and labware; and the fact that some of the compounds are now restricted by the DEA so you have to synthesize them yourself. But with a little effort you can be following the scientific method and running scores of experiment found in this book. According to Thompson, if you do every experiment’s in the book, you will have done the equivalent of 2 years of high school or one college level chemistry course. Great reading, I highly recommend it.