Machiavelli's Laboratory started out as a free web page in 2010. Over time, it has gone through hundreds of minor revisions, all the while being downloaded at a fairly steady rate of about 1,000 page views each month. Last week, I finally got the energy to publish the work as a Kindle ebook, available at amazon.com for $6.99.
Most of the visitors to this blog are familiar with the book, but for the uninitiated, Machiavelli's Laboratory is a satiric examination of ethics in science and medicine. The book is narrated by an evil scientist who tempts the reader to follow an immoral path towards career advancement. Side-stepping the serious, life-and-death dilemmas that fill traditional ethics texts, Machiavelli's Laboratory focuses on the “manners" of science and medicine. There is a right way and a wrong way for scientists to perform their time-honored rites: attending meetings, interpreting data, reviewing journal articles, hiring personnel, returning phone calls, and so on. Ill-mannered scientists and healthcare professional can wreak havoc on themselves and their colleagues. Drawing examples taken from the history of medicine, and from contemporary life, the evil narrator explains how unwary scientists and physicians commit immoral acts, often without realizing what they have done.
Although the book is written as entertainment, readers will learn a great deal about the history of science and medicine. The stories in Machiavelli's Laboratory are chosen from well-documented events occurring in ancient times and modern times. The petty and selfish activities of scientists throughout the ages can help us make better choices, today. This book exposes the common deceptions employed by academics, laboratory researchers, data analysts, journal editors, department chiefs, government bureaucrats, corporate executives, grants writers, physicians, and medical trainees.
Machiavelli's Laboratory has grown to 346 pages, and covers nearly all the venial sins committed in universities, hospitals, and research laboratories. It is written for students, teachers, healthcare professionals, and scientists who need know every trick in the book.
- Jules Berman, April, 2014
