The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science (Paperback)

by Robert K. Merton (Author), Elinor Barber (Author), James L. Shulman (Introduction) "The letters that passed between Horace Walpole and Horace Mann form what Wilmarth S. Lewis calls the Andean range of the Walpole correspondence..." (more)
Key Phrases: happy accidental discoveries, accidental sagacity, literary serendipity, Horace Walpole, New York, Serendipity Shop (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) has long been highly revered by two groups of people: sociologists, who look to the longtime Columbia professor as one of the great masters of their oft-abused discipline (see his magisterial Social Theory and Social Structure), and connoisseurs of what one might call eccentric erudition. In this latter category admirers include such diversely learned eminences as Stephen Jay Gould, Umberto Eco, Jacques Barzun and Denis Donoghue. All of these scholars, as well as many ordinary, intelligent readers, agree that Merton's On the Shoulders of Giants is one of the most delightful books of our time.

Who wouldn't love OTSOG (as his classic is commonly referred to)? In that rambling, leisurely digressive "Shandean postscript," Merton goes about tracing the origins and history of the celebrated remark by Isaac Newton: "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." To begin, he points out that the so-called "Aphorism" crops up in Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, where we moderns are described as pygmies atop the gigantic shoulders of the ancients. Burton leads on to the 17th-century antiquarian John Aubrey (he of the gossipy Brief Lives) and from there to Swift and Rabelais, to the classicists Joseph Scaliger and Juan Luis Vives, to Bernard of Clairvaux and, finally, to the mysterious Didacus Stella. All this sleuthing in the stacks is very entertaining in itself, but what makes OTSOG really fun is Merton's wry, mock-supercilious tone, supported by a steady patter of footnotes, parenthetical reflections and bits of autobiography.

In other words, nearly half of OTSOG is simply marginalia, oddments of learning mentioned almost in passing. Thus Merton incidentally defines "the Parvus complex" as the tendency for people to belittle themselves or their achievements. He resurrects the useful word "agelast" (a person who doesn't laugh) and quotes a neat quip by Albert Einstein: "If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world." After discussing how some fields are named for their eponymous founder (e.g., Boolean algebra), the social scientist sneakily adds that "On rare occasions the same individual acquires a double immortality, both for what he achieved and for what he failed to achieve, as in the cases of Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries, and non-Aristotelian logics." Even OTSOG's index turns out to be funny: "Bacon, Francis: William Shakespeare?," "Merton, Robert K.: another pupil of George Sarton" and "Barber, Elinor: co-author of an important unpublished work, The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity."

Merton and Barber essentially finished The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity in 1958, and then slipped the typescript into a desk drawer. Only 45 years later, after Barber's death and only at the very end of his own long life, did Merton agree to allow the text to be printed, albeit insisting that it appear without revision or updating. But why, as anyone must wonder, wasn't the book published years ago? In a perhaps perversely academic introduction, James L. Shulman proposes that TTAAOS was something of a dry-run for OTSOG, and that, as time went on, the later book seemed to render the earlier one unnecessary. In an afterword Merton agrees that his study of serendipity might be viewed as a "preparazione OTSOGIA." In Serendipity Merton (Barber appears as very much the lesser co-author) takes us on a highly OTSOG-ian journey, but one that moves basically forward rather than backward in time. The story begins when the young sociologist is browsing through his beloved 13-volume 1933 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary -- an extravagant purchase for the studious but impoverished undergraduate -- and happens upon this odd noun "serendipity": "A word coined by Horace Walpole, who says (Let. to Mann, 28 Jan. 1754) that he had formed it upon the title of the fairy tale, 'The Three Princes of Serendip,' the heroes of which 'were always making discoveries by accident and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.' " Hence, as the OED continues, "the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident." Serendipitously, Merton himself had recently begun to study the "unanticipated consequences of social action" and was soon able to employ this useful locution in his sociological papers. Since the word was then hardly in common parlance, Merton eventually decided to trace its history, use and growing popularity.

Naturally, he begins with Walpole, then touches on every subsequent appearance of "serendipity," whether in dictionaries, contributions to 19th-century journals like Notes and Queries or modern newspaper articles. Merton shows that Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon championed the word in medical papers and popular talks, but that it was still being defined in context -- a sign of its strangeness -- well into the 1950s. In fact, Merton calculates that serendipity appeared in print only 135 times before he and Barber completed the manuscript of TTAAOS. Since then, he adds in an autobiographical aferword (where we learn the story of his acquisition of the OED), it has grown into one of the most popular words in the world.

So much for the "sociological semantics" part of the subtitle. But what about the sociology of science?

"When one is drafting a systematic exposition of an important subject, there is simply no excuse for departing from the strict continuity of the argument." As this sentence appears in OTSOG, Merton clearly means for us to take it ironically. But in this later (earlier?) book, he makes explicit his professional misgivings about the way modern scientists traditionally present their findings. The schematic, logical, highly sanitized report tends to ignore or minimize the accident-prone and luck-strewn byways of actual scientific discovery. Great breakthroughs, Merton argues, tend to be serendipitous, and he describes what he calls the "Serendipitous Pattern," which "refers to the fairly common experience of observing unanticipated, anomalous and strategic datum which becomes the occasion for developing a new theory or for extending an existing theory." Ultimately, "Given research set up for a certain purpose, some unexpected, puzzling data, and a scientist capable of being puzzled -- given all of these, an accidental discovery will occur, because the relationship between fact and theory in science is such that it must occur." He goes on to link aspects of this pattern to his friend Thomas Kuhn's theories about paradigms and paradigm shifts in scientific revolution.

The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity isn't as frolicsome as On the Shoulders of Giants. It tends to repeat, even belabor, some of its points and generally feels more ramshackle -- and not in a wholly Shandean way. And yet the book is full of good things. Word mavens will enjoy the survey of how a half-dozen major dictionaries define -- or mostly ill-define -- "serendipity." Several pages analyze the word's pronunciation and judge its sheer musicality as part of its appeal. There are reflections on collectors and collecting, a domain that would hardly exist without the pleasure of serendipitous discovery. Even more seriously, Merton examines the corporate or academic pressure for steady, continuous progress in research against the need for scientists to follow their instincts and make the mistakes that occasionally result in a happy accidental breakthrough. Merton even meditates on the problem of unexpected evil in life, the dark counterpart to unexpected good luck. He notes that, in many careers, to be lucky is good, but to be too lucky tends to make one seem undeserving of the prestige or honor. Conspicuous good fortune undercuts the claims of hard work and merit.

In his closing reflections, Merton laments that serendipity has now become "little more than a Disneylike expression of pleasure, good feeling, joy, or happiness. For those who have consulted dictionaries for the word, its typical appearance between serenade and serene may bring a sense of tranquility and unruffled repose. In any case, no longer a niche-word filling a semantic gap, the vogue word becomes a vague word." The Travels and Aventures of Serendipity isn't likely to supplant the genial On the Shoulders of Giants in the affections of readers. Few books could. Still, this long awaited, long unpublished manuscript proffers enough of its own pleasures that no connoisseur of eccentric erudition will want to forgo them.

Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"All words are moving toyshops. Few have a history as strange and problematic as this word." -- Philip Howard, The Times

An intellectual text, both a pleasure to read and a genuine contribution to scholarship. -- Andrew Scull, Times Literary Supplement

And so serendipity began its life--a saga of misunderstandings, neglect, resurrection, distortion, celebration and controversy, all of which is chronicled with heroic enterprise and humble wit in The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity.... The history remains intact, and the intellectual trajectory outlines by Merton has, if anything, continued with even greater force. -- Review

Walpole would appreciate the many digressions and diversions that shape the travels and adventures of his lighthearted coinage ['serendipity']. -- Craig Calhoun , Bookforum --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (January 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691126305
• ISBN-13: 978-0691126302
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #851,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful journey, January 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science (Hardcover)

This delightful book explores the journey of the word SERENDIPITY, from its exotic 18th Century origins to much wider use including a recent movie.

The late author, Robert K. Merton was an influential and ground breaking sociologist who developed such concepts as the "Focus Group" and "Self-Fufilling Prophecy".

This book is a must-have for every home, library and dorm room.