Piracy: the buccaneer biologist -- Slavery: the corruption of the flycatcher -- Grave-robbing: Jekyll & Hyde, Hunter & Knox -- Murder: the professor and the janitor -- Animal cruelty: the war of the currents -- Sabotage: the bone wars -- Oath-breaking: ethically impossible -- Ambition: surgery of the soul -- Espionage: the variety act -- Torture: the white whale -- Malpractice: sex, power, and money -- Fraud: superwoman

"Science is a force for good in the world--at least usually. But sometimes, when obsession gets the better of scientists, they twist a noble pursuit into something sinister. Under this spell, knowledge isn't everything, it's the only thing--no matter the cost. Bestselling author Sam Kean tells the true story of what happens when unfettered ambition pushes otherwise rational men and women to cross the line in the name of science, trampling ethical boundaries and often committing crimes in the process"--