The tension of asking the question and struggling with the answer links the material and spiritual worlds. Harm or benefit, harm and benefit, is only one of the polarities that makes chemistry interesting. In this book I will explore others as well. The first will be that of identity. As the title of the book implies, I happen to think this is the most important one.
Tension gives life, the potential of change.
If there is anything central to chemistry, it is change. There is a second, connected aim of this book - to tell you what chemists really do. I do not intend to propagandize for chemistry, but to open to you a window into the chemist's world. So that you may see how these dualities, connecting up with psychological forces common to all of us, enter the life of the practitioners of the art. To understand is to give oneself the possibility of not being afraid, perchance to be interested.