The Bourbaki Gambit [Hardcover]

Carl Djerassi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1994

This novel, like Jurassic Park, hinges on the real-world technology incorporated in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), one of the most important breakthroughs in biomedical science. The 1993 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized the immense significance of PCR, which is a process for quickly generating and then infinitely replicating fragments of genetic material.

An impostor takes all of the credit in Carl Djerassi's fictionalized account of PCR's discovery and development. As the scientific community eventually discovers, Professor Diana Skordylis is not really one of their own, she is four of their own--three men and a woman--who publish their collaborative work under the Skordylis pseudonym. Two of them American, one Japanese, and one Austrian, they average around sixty-five years of age. Their archetype is a famous group of French mathematicians who actually have been publishing collectively for several decades under the nom de plume of Nicolas Bourbaki.

Revenge is the Skordylis group's initial motivation. Victims of subtle age discrimination, they have all seen their research budgets and faculty privileges curtailed; two have been forcibly retired. Each Skordylis project they complete, each paper they publish under her name, is a satisfying poke at a scientific community that marginalized its senior members.

But PCR is different. It is not only their best work, it is among the best work done by any scientist in recent memory. Professional jealousy soon threatens Diana Skordylis's life, as some group members struggle with the urge to claim their share of the fame and separately seek out PCR's most innovative applications.

Djerassi writes engagingly--and from experience--about the collaborative nature at the heart of the scientific enterprise and the desire for personal recognition in the hearts of most scientists; about the graying of Western science; and about the human frailties and humanistic concerns of its practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second entry (after Cantor's Dilemma) in his projected tetrology integrating science with fiction again finds Djerassi, professor of chemistry at Stanford and the inventor of the oral contraceptive, less successful as a novelist than as a scientific thinker. Here he tries to combine an accessible depiction of the research scientist's insular world with an ingenious academic hoax, but this flat, plodding novel fails to come to life. Organized by Max Weiss, a senior Princeton biochemist demoted to researcher, the gambit is a secret team of disgruntled veteran scientists working and publishing under a single alias, a fictional identity free from the scientific community's prejudices. This cover collaboration works well until they develop a breakthrough in DNA replication, the Polymerase Reaction Chain (a genuine recent technique). Then egos clash and exposure looms. The book is best when rendering the hard science into narrative form, such as the group's collaborative discussions, culminating in their revolutionary brainstorm (explained in near-layman's terms). Though Djerassi's characters are intended to address timely issues of gender and age discrimination in the scientific community, as well as the larger concerns of reputation and creation, they merely embody these discontents and arguments as case studies. A sluggish setup and the anticlimax of the group's exposure give this novel the vitality of an academic conference paper.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Djerassi's latest novel, a love story with a clever scientific twist, concerns a practical joke played by four scientists, who create an imposter to take credit for an important biomedical discovery. Seeking professional revenge, they create Professor Diana Skordylis, a composite of themselves, in order to make a statement about age discrimination, peer recognition, the plight of women scientists, and the conflicts of collaboration. Readers should not be deterred by the scientific subject matter; Djerassi's plot line is understandable as well as enjoyable. This prolific author, a respected professor of chemistry at Stanford University, has won numerous scientific awards while at the same time producing absorbing, eminently readable fiction (e.g., Cantor's Dilemma, LJ 8/89). Recommended for public and academic libraries.
Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press; 1ST edition (September 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820316520
• ISBN-13: 978-0820316529
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,563,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent premise, but not as well crafted as "Cantor's Dilemma", March 1, 2009

By 

Timothy Chow - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bourbaki Gambit (Paperback)

Djerassi is once again to be commended for writing an entertaining novel to educate the general public about the forces that really drive scientists as individuals, and the world of scientific research in general. If the public is to make intelligent decisions about how to fund, teach, and promote science, then this kind of insight into the (sometimes messy) realities of the research world is a must. For this purpose, a well-told story is worth a hundred dry, factual reports.

The premise of "The Bourbaki Gambit" is excellent. (The title of the book comes from the pseudonymous mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki, although only one character in the book is a mathematician.) An older and highly successful biochemist, feeling that he has been prematurely put out to pasture, seeks revenge by recruiting three other like-minded colleagues to form a pseudonymous and anonymous collaboration. Their goal? To expose the ageist prejudices of the scientific world by publishing outstanding research under a pen name and then, after the kudos roll in, to reveal their true identities. The plan seems perfect---until paradoxically, they become victims of their own success.

In a world where people are living increasingly long and healthy lives, and where collaboration is becoming increasingly important even in traditionally "solitary" fields (as I write this, the renowned mathematician Tim Gowers is experimenting on his blog with "Polymath," a large-scale pseudonymous---but not anonymous---wiki-style collaborative research entity), the premise of "The Bourbaki Gambit" is extremely relevant. Scientists themselves (and not just the general public) would do well to grapple more directly and openly with the problems and issues that are highlighted in this book.

I must confess, however, that I found "The Bourbaki Gambit" to be less well-written than Djerassi's more famous book, "Cantor's Dilemma." One gets the feeling that the author overindulged himself by inserting a lot of trivia about his favorite hobbies and pet interests. These details can be interesting if you happen to share the same interests---for example, even though I am a mathematician and know about Hy Bass, I did not know that he contributed to Bourbaki---but too often they fail to enliven the characters or plot, or contribute to the underlying social commentary, and thus they cause the book to drag. The characters in "Cantor's Dilemma" are more believable, three-dimensional, and likable. So if you have never read Djerassi before, I recommend you start with "Cantor's Dilemma."

By the way, the characters' main scientific discovery in the book is in fact a real piece of science, and the true story of its discovery is quite fascinating in its own right. Be sure to check it out after finishing Djerassi's book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Issues in science and mathathics: age, gender and originality, August 2, 2008

By 

R. Bagula "Roger L. Bagula" (Lakeside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bourbaki Gambit (Hardcover)

The collective Individual of the French mathematical community Nicolas Bourbaki is the inspiration for four people in biochemistry: they form the collective individual Diana Skordylis and publish research papers under that name. What breaks up the association is not failure, but success.
The book is slow and almost too literary, but the character development is better than many faster or more interesting novels.
Had they developed a biotoxin or a weapon of some kind, it might have
had spies and intrigue that would
have gained the book a wider audience.
Instead it became a polemic against sex and age discrimination in the
scientific and educational community.
The fact that one gets paid more for getting more published under an individual name and that individuals can't get published without some recognized sponsorship makes the system system somewhat secure
from raging originality and not all an open form. It is not at all clear why older successful people would be threatened by being retired
so that younger people can get at least a chance
should be much of an issue:
a more important issue is the voices who are never heard or even allowed to speak or publish their work or ideas.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Djerassi did not win a nobel prize., September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bourbaki Gambit (Paperback)

This excellent book explored the collaborative process of science in the framework of an interesting story. It is a must read for scientists who should learn lessons from this book. It should be noted however that the author is not a nobel prize winner as the first review would have us believe.