Problems of science and of research are analyzed in this eloquent and human document as they confronted the author in their concrete situations. Dr. Selye, the author of Stress and The Stress of Life, uses a conversational tone, employs anecdotes, quotes from a variety of related fields and analyzes his personal motivation for his laboratory work. The book pleads for using “intuitive feelings for the way nature works,” argues for simplicity in observation and coordination, and in general, for the human side in medical research as against “the beauty of science for its own sake.” The tone of the book is carried by the persuasion that “Even the grandeur of conquering the universe … seems to pale at the bedside of a patient who will die because we are remiss in our efforts to learn more about disease.”