Is it possible to be passionate about politics, football or hip hop and still be a creative scientist? In this witty and passionate account of life as one of the world's leading scientists, the Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Doherty offers readers an insider's guide into just what research scientists do all day. Along the way he answers some of the great questions of our age.

Doherty argues that few of us understand how science works, or what motivates those who do it for a living. The urge to discover and to experiment is one of the most basic human drives and yet not everyone is intrigued by discovery. So how do we decide if we belong in the camp of the conservatives or the innovators?