About the book
James H. Austin, who went on to write Zen and the Brain, uses the story of his own biomedical research to show how persistence, chance and creativity interact. He describes how unpredictable events shaped the outcome of his investigations and led to new results. He then proposes a classification of the different kinds of chance, drawing on his own work and on episodes from the history of science such as the accidents that led Fleming to penicillin. Finally he examines the creative process itself, including its environmental and neurophysiological correlates and the role of intuition in scientific discovery and in spiritual quests. Austin argues that his conclusions shed light on creative work in any field, not only in medicine.
Marc Andreessen called it the best book he had read on how luck, chance and serendipity figure in medical research, or in any creative pursuit.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Marc Andreessen (Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz)
It’s the best book I’ve read on the role of luck, chance, and serendipity in medical research—or, for that matter, any creative endeavor.
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