Donald R. Kirsch

an interesting if somewhat limited history of drug hunting. each chapter focused on a different possible avenue of discovery plants, chemicals, serendipity and then told an amazing story of a particular drug that was discovered against incredible odds. The author has a bone to pick with big pharma and it occassionally shows through, but otherwise, a truly amazing read, particularly enjoyed learning about the improbable origin of chemotherapy

Donald R. Kirsch is a retired drug hunter and in this readable history he tells many interesting stories of how drugs were discovered. He separates the age of plants from the age of chemistry when it was possible to create drugs. One of the first such creations was the use of a clothing dye that happened to be effective against some diseases. This is why many German drug companies are located on the Rhine river where the textile mills were located. There is the story of aspirin, penicillin, show more heroin (originally a medicinal drug), insulin and "the pill", among others. One gets a sense of how haphazard and lucky finding a new drug is, even to this day. Since we all take drugs at some point, this is a good introduction of how they came to be. show less