Variations on a Theme: Oops

Earlier this week, I realized that I have not done a Variations on a Theme post in MONTHS! Turns out I turned off my calendar reminder. Whoops! I'm going with making lemonade from lemons on this - this post's theme is all about Oops. These are the accidents of history that had good or interesting outcomes

Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them
Donovan Hohn

When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive arena of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories. Moby-Duck is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable.

Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution
Kevin Brown

Penicillin has affected the lives of everyone, and has exerted a powerful hold on the popular imagination since its first use in 1941. The story of its development from a chance observation in 1928 by Alexander Fleming to a life-saving drug is compelling and exciting. It revolutionized healthcare and turned the modest, self-effacing Fleming into a world hero. This book tells the story of the man and his discovery set against a background of the transformation of medical research from nineteenth-century individualism through to teamwork and modern-day international big business (pharmaceutical companies like Fisors, Distillers, or Beecham (Smith Kline)). Now, sixty years after the antibiotic revolution, when there are fears that the days of antibiotics are numbered it has never been more timely to look at the beginnings.

A Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear's Race to Unlock the Greatest Secret of the Nineteenth Century
Charles Sack

Noble Obsession follows the life of Charles Goodyear, a single-minded genius who risked his own life and that of his family in a quest to unlock the secrets of rubber. In rich, historical detail, it chronicles the personal price Goodyear paid in pursuit of his dream and his bitter rivalry with Thomas Hancock, the scholarly English inventor who ultimately robbed Goodyear of fame and fortune. From the jungles of Brazil to the laboratories of Europe to the courtrooms of America, Noble Obsession tells one of the strangest and most affecting sagas in the history of human discovery.

For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It
Mark Pendergast

For God, Country and Coca-Cola is the unauthorized history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. From its origins as a patent medicine in Reconstruction Atlanta through its rise as the dominant consumer beverage of the American century, the story of Coke is as unique, tasty, and effervescent as the drink itself. With vivid portraits of the entrepreneurs who founded the company—and of the colorful cast of hustlers, swindlers, ad men, and con men who have made Coca-Cola the most recognized trademark in the world—this is business history at its best: in fact, “The Real Thing.” The unauthorized history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. Pendergrast tells the full story of why Coke--more than 99% sweetened water--is the quintessential American product and how it changed the course of American capitalism. Also reveals high jinks, family dramas, and shady deals behind the scenes. Three 8-page photo inserts. 

LSD: My Problem Child

Albert Hoffman

Albert Hofmann, who died in 2008 aged 102, first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938, but the results of animal tests were so unremarkable that the chemical was abandoned. Driven by intuition, he synthesized it again in 1943, and serendipitously noticed its profound effects on himself. Although his work produced other important drugs, including methergine, hydergine and dihydroergotamine, it was LSD that shaped his career. After his discovery of LSD's properties, Hofmann spent years researching sacred plants. He succeeded in isolating and synthesizing the active compounds in the Psilocybe mexicana mushroom, which he named psilocybin and psilocin. During the 60s, Hofmann struck up friendships with personalities such as Aldous Huxley, Gordon Wasson, and Timothy Leary. He continued to work at Sandoz until 1971 when he retired as Director of Research for the Department of Natural Products. He subsequently served as a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, and was nominated by Time magazine as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.

The Making of the Pacemaker: Celebrating a Life Saving Invention
Wilson Greatbach

Intrigued by electronics from the time he was a boy, Greatbatch earned a degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University. It was during his time at Cornell that he first became interested in the medical applications of electronic devices. He learned about the problem of heart blocking at Cornell and knew it was fixable in principle, but at the time the vacuum-tube technology was impractical for medical use.

Greatbatch quit his job and for the next two years devoted full-time in his wood-heated barn workshop to building one pacemaker after another. During this time he built fifty pacemakers, forty of which went into animal experiments. By 1960 he and a team of surgeons and engineers had gained enough knowledge from the trial and error of the animal experiments to feel ready to begin implanting the remaining ten devices in people. The first trials went well and Greatbatch's device extended the lives of many of these seriously ill patients by decades. What followed were years of hard work refining the battery and electrode technology, marketing the pacemaker to an initially skeptical medical community, and keeping the company that manufactured the device profitable. Reminiscent of Edison's many dogged attempts to find the right solution in pursuit of an ingenious idea, The Making of the Pacemaker is a human-interest story at its best and also an important firsthand account for the medical archives of an invention that today saves millions of lives.

Other Oops Titles

The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans - Lawrence M. Powell
Accidental Inventions: The Chance Discoveries that Changed Our Lives - Birgit Krols
Alfred Nobel: Dynamite King, Architect of Peace - Herta E. Pauli
How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun: Accidental Discoveries and Unexpected Inspirations That Shape What We Eat and Drink - Josh Cheteynd
Lucky Science: Accidental Discoveries From Gravity to Velcro, With Experiments - Royston M. Roberts and Jeanie Roberts
Microwave Man: Percy Spencer and His Sizzling Invention - Sara L. Latta
Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science - Royston M. Roberts
We Have Conquered Pain: The Discovery of Anesthesia - Dennis Brindell Fradin