Picric acid converted it to acetylsalicylic acid, i.e., aspirin, to keep it from the Allies. See Great Phenol Plot. At the time, phenol was obtained from coal as a co-product of coke ovens and the manufacture of gas for gas lighting. Laclede Gas reports being asked to expand production of phenol (and toluene) to support the war effort. Both Monsanto and Dow Chemical undertook manufacture of synthetic phenol in 1915. Dow was the leading producer. Dow describes picric acid as “the main battlefield explosive used by the French. Large amounts [of phenol] also went to Japan, where it was made into picric
My Name Is Red the specific manuscripts described (most prominently the "Shahnama given by Shah Tahmasp", more commonly known in the west as the Houghton shahnama) are real and survive in whole or part. "My Name Is Red" received favourable reviews when published in English. A reviewer for "Publishers Weekly" admires the novel's "...jeweled prose and alluring digressions, nesting stories within stories" and concludes that Pamuk will gain many new readers with this "...accessible, charming and intellectually satisfying, narrative." A "Kirkus Reviews" critic describes the novel as "...a whimsical but provocative exploration of the nature of art in an Islamic society. . . .