The theme of this work is scientific foible. Gratzer describes for a general readership a number of episodes in science and medicine where an erroneous research finding was adhered to and given credence by its originators and others far beyond the point where it had been effectively discredited. Each of these episodes is dealt with in detail, with special attention given to the individuals involved, their careers and personalities, their relations with others, and so on. The accounts include the affair of the N-rays, Lysenko and the tragedy of Soviet genetics, science in the Third Reich, the tale of polywater, and the cold-fusion aberration of the 1980s.