中文简介：

炼金术士因试图炼制黄金而臭名昭著。然而，他们的目标要雄心勃勃得多：按照人类想象力的意愿来改造和弯曲自然。炼金术似乎掌握着解开创造秘密的钥匙，对科学家、哲学家和艺术家来说都有着重要的影响。炼金术士探索世界制造方式的努力，对全球艺术实践和表达产生了持久的影响。世界上的炼金术实验室生产的混合物包括墨水、染料和油画颜料；水泥和陶瓷釉料；金属制品和玻璃的炫目效果，以及现代媒体中声称拥有自然界終及化学镜的摄影和数字世界的液晶显示器。炼金术很可能是继火的利用之后蕞重要的人类发明。该领域刺激了视觉艺术的进步和对人类健康的辅助。本书艏次探讨了炼金术如何在全球范围内改变了从古代到工业时代的人类创意文化，并展示了其遗产仍然渗透到我们金天的世界中。

英文简介：

Alchemists are notorious for attempting to synthesize gold. Their goals, however, were far more ambitious: to transform and bend nature to the will of an industrious human imagination. For scientists, philosophers, and artists alike, alchemy seemed to hold the key to unlocking the secrets of creation. Alchemists' efforts to discover the way the world is made have had an enduring impact on global artistic practice and ion. Concoctions produced in the world’s alchemy labs include inks, dyes, and oil paints; cements and ceramic glazing; dazzling effects in metalwork and glass - and the modern media which now claim boasting rights as the ultimate chemical mirrors of nature: photography and the liquid crystal displays of the digital world. Alchemy may well be the most important human invention after the harnessing of fire. It was certainly a direct result, with consequences both inspired and dire. The field spurred on advancements in the visual arts and aids to human health. Ancient Chinese alchemists also unleashed the black magic of gunpowder onto the world of warfare.

This book is the first to explore how the art of alchemy globally transformed human creative culture from antiquity to the industrial age, and displays the ways its legacy still permeates the world we make today.