ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies (2009, ISBN 978-0-19-532692-5) is a nonfiction book about movies, chemistry, and chemistry in the movies by Chemistry Professor Mark Griep

Mark Griep

Mark Griep is a chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has a bachelor’s and doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota. He studies the enzymes primase and DnaB helicase in his search for antibiotics that inhibit them...

 and Artist Marjorie Mikasen

Marjorie Mikasen

Marjorie Mikasen is an abstract, geometric, hard-edge acrylic painter working in Lincoln, Nebraska. She has a degree in studio arts from The University of Minnesota. She is co-author with Mark Griep of the nonfiction book ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies.-Artist:Mikasen is an abstract,...

 published by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 USA. The authors were awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic non-profit organization in the United States. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.-Overview:...

 grant in the area of Public Understanding of Science to research and write the book.

This book is about the chemistry when it is part of the narrative.. Most of the examples are contemporary popular feature films while some are documentaries, shorts, silents, and international films. The book uses the dualities personified by the benevolent Dr. Jekyll on one hand and the evil Mr. Hyde on the other to describe how chemists and chemistry are portrayed in the movies.

There are 10 chapters, the first five of which have dark chemical themes and the second five of which have bright chemical themes. The chapter titles are:

• 1. Dr. Jekyll's Mysterious Transformative Formula
• 2. Invisibility Steals the Seen: Chemistry Creates Criminal Opportunities
• 3. Isomorphs of Paranoia: Chemical Arsenals
• 4. Bad Company: The Business of Toxicity
• 5. A Master/Slave Narrative: Drug Addiction and Psychoactives
• 6. Inventors and their Often Wacky Chemical Inventions
• 7. Hard Science = Hard Evidence: Forensic Chemistry and Chemical Detectives
• 8. Chem 101: Learning by Doing
• 9. Good News: Research & Medicinal Chemists Making a Difference
• 10. First, Do No Harm (but Before that, Self-Experiment)

According to several reviews, the book's strength is when it explores what might be the real chemicals that inspired the fictional compounds found in certain movies.

• Dr. Jekyll’s ‘Hyde formula’
• The invisibility drug monocaine from The Invisible Man (film) of 1933
• The ‘green speck’ and ‘black object’ extraterrestrial matter from The Andromeda Strain (film)
  The Andromeda Strain (film)
  The Andromeda Strain is a 1971 American science-fiction film, based on the novel published in 1969 by Michael Crichton. The film is about a team of scientists who investigate a deadly organism of extraterrestrial origin that causes rapid, fatal blood clotting. Directed by Robert Wise, the film...
  
   of 1971
• Elvis’ GOOP varnish from the Clambake
  Clambake
  Clambake is a 1967 musical film starring Elvis Presley, and co-starring Shelley Fabares and Bill Bixby—the last of his four films for United Artists. The movie reached No. 15 on the national weekly box office charts.-Plot:...
  
  (film) of 1967

External links

• 2008 Nebraska Public Radio Interview by Jerry Johnston titled “Chemist, Artist Explore Chemistry in the Movies”
• Oxford Universtiy Press "ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies"