MOST DELICIOUS POISON IN THE NEWS: Media Interviews & Features NPR Science Friday - Featured interview and book excerpt KQED (NPR) Forum with Mina Kim - Discussing Most Delicious Poison Futureproof Podcast - DiscussingMost Delicious Poison NPR Science Friday - Discussing Most Delicious Poison This Podcast Will Kill You - Discussing Most Delicious Poison Foodie Pharmacology Podcast with Dr. Cassandra Quave - Discussing Most Delicious Poison Inquiring Minds with Indre Verma - Discussing Delicious Poison Business Insider - Interview on poisonous houseplants UC Berkeley Research News - Feature interview Published Essays & Articles TIME Magazine - "The Evolutionary Origins of Psychedelics in Nature" ATMOS Magazine - "How the Dance of Poison Shapes Nature and Mankind" Asimov Press - "Toxic Proteins" Book Talks & Speaking Events Harvard Science Book Talk with Ryan Nett - Harvard University UC Berkeley Library Book Talk - Morrison Library (March 5, 2025) UC Botanical Garden Book Talk - UC Berkeley KALX 90.7FM Fiat Lux Redux Radio Interview Reviews & Recognition The New York Times - "[Most Delicious Poison] feel[s] like a riveting lecture by a passionate professor." The Wall Street Journal - "The plants in Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins—From Spices to Vices come off as very smart, even cunning… a spirited debut." Current Biology - "Establishes [Whiteman] as a natural historian with great breadth and depth. He delivers a compendium of knowledge on plant poisons with fascinating details on their chemistry, physiological effects, ecology, and evolution." Evolution - "Most Delicious Poison shows how we are mere bystanders in chemical warfare between plants, microbes, fungi, animals, and the organisms that threaten them—a conflict almost as old as life itself." Nature - "The stories Whiteman chooses are often complex… but the author deftly navigates readers through nature's chemical mazes… The author's passion for his subject matter comes through on almost every page of Most Delicious Poison." Scientific American - "Biologist Noah Whiteman's exacting yet expansive analysis reminds us that although they 'permeate our lives in the most mundane and profound ways,' the toxic chemicals we use every day are not nature's gifts to us but rather its munitions." Publishers Weekly - "This amusing debut from Whiteman, an evolutionary biology professor at UC Berkeley, explores the 'ways that toxins from nature arose, have been used by us humans and other animals, and have consequently changed the world.'" Booklist - "Whiteman's provocative volume will make the reader think differently about familiar substances like coffee, cayenne, and cocaine." The Spectator - "A kaleidoscope of facts and historical vignettes, both of how plant chemicals work, and how humans learned to harness some of them... Like balancing the dose of a drug, he goes just to the edge of 'too technical' and brings it back to comprehensible for the non-scientist." New Scientist - "Well worth a read. Spare the time to mull over each chapter for slightly longer than you might otherwise, if just to let the poison sink in." Daily Mail - "Most Delicious Poison is full of illuminating insights into the natural world and the plants that have shaped us." Science News - Selected as Top 20 Science Book of 2023 - "Pour a cup of herbal tea, add some drops of lavender oil to the diffuser and enjoy this mind-bending read." Kirkus Reviews - Awarded Kirkus Star and Best Nonfiction Book of 2023 - "A fascinating discussion of how nature's toxins can affect us all." NPR Science Friday - Staff Pick for 2023