Okay, my life. Hi, this is William Ramsey. Welcome to William Ramsey investigates on tonight show. I have a very special guest. His name is Sam Keen, and he's just published a book in July 2021. Title of the book is the Ice Pick Surgeon, Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and other dastardly deeds perpetrated in the name of science. Fascinating book really goes into kind of the history of science and some of the

Darkness that was involved in really you know creating kind of the historical scientific record for the Western humanity in general

But this is not his first book. He's also published in 2010 the Disappearing Spoon and other true tales of Madness, Love, and History, and

the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements.

In 2012, he published The Violinist's Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love War and Genius

is written by our genetic code.

2014, The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons.

The history of the human brain is revealed by true stories of trauma,

madness, and recovery. And in 2017, Caesar's Last Breath, decoding the secrets of the air around us.

And then in 2019, The Bastard Brigade, the true story of the renegade scientists and spies who sabotaged the Nazi atomic bomb.

That looks like a very interesting book.

But again, we're going to talk about this book he just published,

the title of which is the Ice Pick Surgeon.

So Sam Keane, are you there?

I am here, yes.

Sorry to make you read all those subtitles.

That's right.

Well, it just gives the listener an idea of your background, your interests,

and I think you can kind of see the

trajectory of what you write about all the way up to the ice-pick surgeon. So for people who may not

have heard your name, can you talk about how you develop this interest in the history of science

and what led you to write the ice-pick surgeon? Yeah, so broadly talking about my books kind of in general, what I really try to do is show

...