National Cultures and International Competition: The Experience of Schering AG, 1851-1950 Book

A very interesting story of a pharmaceutical startup. So much hype, with no solid basis, and yet they survive. Werth does a good job explaining the business, the science, and the experience of doing the science.

> Scientists, unlike, say, athletes, conjure their own competition. They seldom know precisely whom they're competing with or where they are in the race. They hear things'rumors, reports'but the information comes at a distance and with a price: It may be exaggerated, deliberately misleading, or simply false. The atmosphere in a lab in the throes of a heated project is insular, secretive, xenophobic, superheated, and paranoid.

> "There's two situations where you want to be aggressive about publishing. One is when you're behind; the other is when you're ahead. When you're ahead, you demoralize the other guy. When you're behind, you have nothing to lose. It's when you don't know that you want to be most careful."