Reveals the extreme lengths to which scientists have gone to make discoveries, sharing colorful stories of drug use, mystical visions, and cheating by famous figures from Newton and Einstein to Watson and Crick.

Originally published: Great Britain : Profile Books, 2011.

How it begins : dreams, drugs and visions from God -- The delinquents : rules are there to be broken -- Masters of illusion : evidence isn't everything -- Playing with fire : no pain, no gain -- Sacrilege : breaking taboos is part of the game -- Fight club : there's no prize for the runner-up -- Defending the throne : Machiavelli would be proud -- In the line of fire : life on the barricades.