Analysis Of Morton A. Meyers's Happy Accidents

The unknown is commonly something that people fear, but what happens when intelligent individuals dare to uncover the facts within it? The answer to this question is that remarkable discoveries are made that change human knowledge, technology, and health forever. Possibly the most beneficial of these discoveries are the ones involving the betterment of human health. Doctors and scientists are often viewed as the most intellectual people in the world’s communities, but they are still human and therefore prone to error. However, Morton A. Meyers’s book Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs explores the various positive outcomes that arose from human error. Specifically, Meyers writes about the diverse serendipitous breakthroughs

In his book, Meyers recounts the stories of numerous scientists and researchers who discovered something magnificent when merely looking for something else. This is not to say that all of the scientists did something wrong in their research, but Meyers argues that the beauty of serendipity in medical discoveries is that no matter where the discoveries come from or how they come about, all it takes is someone intelligent and creative enough to understand the true application of the discovery. Meyers writes about four different categories of discoveries in his book. The first category is full of historical medical discoveries mostly focusing on diseases and antibiotics. The second and most relevant category is about the numerous advancements in cancer treatment. The third category focuses on one major organ: the heart which requires major focus in modern American healthcare. The fourth and last category discusses different psychotropic drugs that have been discovered as well as their uses in medicine. One of the most interesting discoveries that Meyers discusses is written within the second

It is also interesting to know just how many medical breakthroughs came about by accident. It allows people to realize that, although it should be handled with the utmost care, cut of the edge research is not always cut and dry. This book teaches that it takes true intellect to take what seems like a failure or an accident and instead of abandoning it, reflecting on what has truly happened. Students as well as current researchers should read, study, and take inspiration from this book. It has a lot to teach other than simply the surface of the history of the discoveries it