What's Toxic, What's Not. Gary Ginsberg and Brian Toal. 2006. Berkley Books, the Penguin Group, New York. 376 pp. $15.00 paperback.

“Get the Facts—and Guard Your Family's Health” … “Everything You Need to Know about: Mold, Lead, Radon, Asbestos, Food Additives, Power Lines, Cancer Clusters, etc.”. Wow! If the descriptors on the covers are to be believed, this is the be-all and end-all of reference books. Yet this is a 376-page paperback with no mathematical or chemical equation in sight, not even an appendix of technical information or tables. In reality, the objective of this text is not to educate the technical specialist per se (although I did pick up a few interesting facts and some information that will be useful in my adult education outreach courses), but instead to cater to the average, non-technical person. It is this latter, target audience that requires factual, solid, non-jargony information presented in a competent, logical, and easy-to-comprehend manner.