Wanderings of a Biochemist By Fritz Lipmann (review)

might have a flair for writing. In addition to those of the two editors, Moser and Di Cyan, there are essays by Aring, Alvarez, Bean, and Crosby. Their flair for writing is demonstrated in various ways, characteristic of the style, personality, and idiosyncrasies of each contributor and becomes evident in a predictable but nonetheless cheerful way. The essays contain jokes, homilies, verse, little tales, exhortations , and scowls. They express more than a twinge of melancholy derived from viewing contemporary writing in medical journals and textbooks. Perhaps at some time in die future there will be a considered study of die factblindness which characterizes so much medical writing today. Few critics have ever studied what we all sense is a tightening of die brake bands on the drums of movement which keeps the inertia of laziness from being transformed into the momentum of improvement in writing. Not only has die credo of good writing been known for a long time, but the red rubrics of advice and counsel are written clearly in texts and in graffiti for those to use who will. The conversion of knowledge into practice and of practice into perfection have hardly a chance against the awesome power of Epstean's law. Alfred Jay Nock derived Epstean's law from die sage comment of his friend who told him widi great emphasis, "If self-preservation is a first law of human conduct, exploitation is die second." This was fined down by Nock in die formula, "Man tends always to satisfy his needs and desires with die least possible exertion." A profound truth resides in die unwillingness of most people to work hard for self-improvement . Only a few have die capacity to use such bits of truth as diey have access to. Only a rare one gains the mystery which characterizes wisdom. The book has plenty of sage advice, sound counsel, and strictures upon breaches in the etiquette of good writing. Nothing suggests that die book will elevate the level of writing in medical or scientific journals in diis country, but it will entertain good writers who do not need to read it. William B. Bean, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa Wanderings of a Biochemist. By Fritz Lipmann. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1971. Pp. 229. $8.95. This is an autobiographical account of education and research. It is another example of a great scientist who was trained by great scientists. Fritz Lipmann moved quickly, not without feelings of insecurity, from medical education into basic biochemistry. The book is in two parts. In part one, each chapter includes references to publications by die author within diat era in addition to the reproduction of some published notes and short articles. Part two is made up of essays by the author. Except for die inclusion of technical papers the book is simply and clearly written and the author appears as an unassuming scientist-humanist as well as a discoverer. Dwight J. Ingle University of Chicago 480 J Book Reviews ...