Summary
This is Morton Meyers' fascinating, entertaining, and highlyaccessible look at the surprising role serendipity played in some of themost important medical discoveries in the 20th century. Though within thescientific community a certain stigma is attached to chance discoverybecause it is wrongly seen as pure luck, happy accidents happen every dayand Meyers shows how it takes intelligence, insight, and creativity torecognize a "Eureka! I found what I wasn't look for!" moment and know whatto do next. Penicillin, chemotherapy drugs, X-rays, Valium, the Pap smear,and Viagra were all discovered accidentally, stumbled upon in search ofsomething else. In discussing these medical breakthroughs and others, Dr.Meyers makes a cogent, highly engaging argument for a more creative, ratherthan purely linear, approach to science.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Meyers, professor emeritus of radiology and internal medicine at SUNY-Stony Brook, has a simple message: the most significant breakthroughs in medical research usually came about when people were looking for something else entirely. Lithium's effect on bipolar disorder, for example, was discovered because a scientist was taking advantage of its solubility to run toxicity tests on patients. Likewise, Viagra was developed during experiments on medications designed to treat angina. Meyers has dozens of stories like this, in the areas of antibiotics, cancer treatments, cardiovascular therapy and antidepressants. The anecdotes are lively and filled with miniportraits of important doctors like Paul Ehrlich (who pioneered the use of chemistry to develop medical treatments) and Arthur Voorhees (who stumbled onto the treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysms), but some chapters feel forcefully wedged in. The role of accident in creating the thalidomide molecule is glossed in one sentence, and too little information is given about contemporary research into the therapeutic use of LSD to draw any meaningful conclusions (although it's a good excuse to revisit the story of Albert Hofmann's bicycle ride). But it will be hard to argue with Meyers's criticism of a rigid scientific culture that discourages experimenters from keeping an eye out for the unexpected. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A character-rich account of the role of chance in scientific research. Meyers (Emeritus, Radiology and Internal Medicine/SUNY, Stony Brook) has collected dozens of stories, from Pasteur to present-day stem-cell researchers that show scientists looking for one thing, finding something entirely different and recognizing the potential of the unexpected discovery. A skilled storyteller, Meyers explains in layman's terms the science involved, whether it is a cardiovascular breakthrough, discovery of a hallucinogenic or a new antibiotic or antidepressant, or an advance in the understanding of ulcers or cancer. Throughout the text are boxed "extras," material that does not quite fit into his storyline but is fascinating enough to merit inclusion. These items include anecdotes about lobotomies, the Laetrile hoax, Einstein's aortic aneurysm, even a urologist exposing himself at a scientific conference to prove a point. Beneath all this, however, Meyers has a serious message: Research in the United States has become centralized and bureaucratic, to the point of being stifled. Advances do not come from researchers targeted toward specific goals and following set procedure, Meyers warns, but from creative and open-minded researchers recognizing the significance of discoveries made while in the process of studying something else. Further, he faults the current peer-review process, citing numerous examples of discoveries that turned out to be major breakthroughs but had been covered up or ignored by this process. His concluding chapter contains suggestions on how to create an environment that encourages the curiosity-driven research that leads to serendipitous findings. Illuminating science writing for the layman. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
To radiologist and internist Meyers, the phrase creative scientific research has become an oxymoron in today's culture of research grants, peer review boards, pharmaceutical companies, overly regimented education, and scientific journals. Rebuffing all that, he details dozens of medicines currently saving millions of lives that are the results of serendipity, which he defines as chance plus judgment --medicines discovered while researchers were looking in quite another, often the opposite, direction. To be serendipitous, he says, a chance discovery must be accompanied by the researcher's ability to recognize an important anomaly or to draw analogies that are not obvious. Creativity is key. In interviews with several Nobel laureates, many readily admit applying so-called post facto logic to the sequence of their reasoning when they make their presentations because, Meyers notes, getting to a new idea is not a linear process. Meyers' accounts of such happy accidents as the discoveries of the lifesaving anticoagulant Coumadin, the manic-depression therapeutic lithium, and others is a significant brief on creativity's critical role in medical research. --Donna Chavez Copyright 2007 Booklist
Choice Review
Heavily annotated, this remarkable work by Meyers (emer., School of Medicine, SUNY at Stony Brook) covers numerous biomedical advances, some from enhanced 20th-century technology. At the same time, the author might seem obsessed with the notion that serendipity is the main driving force for progress were it not for numerous, well-documented examples; data gathering comes in second to associative inductive reasoning. Similarly, the classification of disease and epidemiological ascertainment is often due to thoughtfully perceived associations of factors and findings. The book has some errors, e.g., giving the impression that the FDA was established by FDR in 1938, and misstating the process of recognition of antigens by antibodies. These are minor flaws in this justified indictment of much programmatic overkill by government funding and Big Pharma. Meyers pertinently points out that many scientists often fail to accept genuine advances. "Science" has a chaotic receptor system for knowledge. This book will be particularly valuable for all biomedical professionals and as a course reference. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. D. R. Shanklin University of Chicago
Library Journal Review
Meyers (radiology & internal medicine, emeritus, Sch. of Medicine, SUNY Stony Brook) entertains lay readers and challenges his professional colleagues in this lively history of serendipity's role in medical discoveries. Antidepressants, angioplasty, chemotherapy, and, most famously, penicillin are only a few of the life-saving breakthroughs that occurred when brilliant and creative scientists encountered unexpected research results. Often reading between the lines of dry scientific papers, Meyers teases out the flashes of insight that have transformed routine experiments into Nobel prize-winning medical advances. Unfortunately, Meyers notes that granting agencies, peer review conventions, profit-driven research, and medical education itself stifle the independent, out-of-the-box thinkers who are capable of shifting the paradigms of medicine. He suggests strategies to transform research and education so that a culture of curiosity, creativity, and risk-taking can reemerge. Recommended for all libraries; the first and last chapters should appear on many syllabi for first-year medical students.-Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
