Diarmuid Jeffreys became interested in aspirin when his father had a heart attack about 12 years ago.
"Fortunately, he recovered and is now fit and well, but from that moment on he began taking a daily dose of aspirin. Even then, I was curious why he was taking what I'd hitherto thought to be a headache pill, but I soon realised that it was because it inhibited blood clotting and lessened the chances of another heart attack.
"The more I read about it - the more I realised that this little chemical marvel which costs about a penny to produce and has the capacity to save lives - had the most incredible history." Hence the book.
He regrets that aspirin has become a victim of its own success. Aspirin has long been approved for use against aches and pains. Formal approval for more serious uses depends on clinical trials.
"However, the Helsinki Declaration states that researchers may not do anything knowingly to imperil the health of their subjects. Therefore, it is almost impossible for a researcher to give a placebo in an aspirin trial for fear of allowing a patient to have a preventable heart attack."
Also, so many people now know about aspirin's benefits that they won't take part in a trial in which they might be given a placebo instead.
No placebos, no trials, no evidence. So the cheapest and probably most effective weapon against heart and other serious disease is not fully deployed. Catch-22.
To overcome this, scientists are now researching the salicylates in their natural form, as they occur in organic fruit and vegetables. Imagine the day when someone gets a Nobel Prize for medicine for proving that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away".