Fortune or Fallure: Missed Opportunities a n d C h a n c e Discoveries in Sclence Alexander Kohn. Basil Blackwell: Cambridge, MA, 1989. x + 199 pp. 14.8 X 22.7 cm. 9 Figs., 21 plates. $24.95.
to advance science". One-page tables of missed discoveries and of additional reading and name (6 pp) and subject (11 pp) indices conclude this engrossing, thoroughly documented book, which I am pleased to recommend highly, despite its minor shortcoming of dozens of typographical errors and misspellings that could have been eliminated by more careful proofreading and attention t o detail. G e o r-s e 0 . Kauffman California State University. Fresno Fresno, CA 93740
Dr Kohn, a virologist and Professor Emeritus a t the Tel Aviv University Medical School and Editor of the whimsical and humorous Journal of Irreprodueible Results, examines the neglected role of chance in dozens of discoveries from the Middle Ages to the latest contemporary events. These accounts and anecdotes, both familiar and unfamiliar, are recounted with wit and insight and elucidate the still mysterious process of scientific discovery. The stories, ranging in length from a senEmerglng Technologies In Hazardous tence or two t o entire ehaoters in the eases W a d e Management dpenirillin and insulin, arec hcwrn irom the iieldjol physlc~.chwnl~tr)~, p h a l m ~ ~ e u l i ~ h l 0.William Tedder and Frederick G. Poh chemistry, h~ochwnistry,astr
