Going Somewhere is a dynamic autobiographical narrative about Andrew Marino's career in science. With a depth and drama that arise from personal involvement, the book explores an exceptionally wide range of science-related matters: the relation between electrical energy and life; the influence of corporate and military power on science; the role of self-interest on the part of federal and state agencies that deal with human health, especially the NIH and the FDA; the importance of cross-examining scientific experts in legal hearings; the erroneous view of nature that results when the perspective of physics is extended into biology; the pivotal role of deterministic chaos theory in at least some cognitive processes. These matters arise in the long course of the author's scientific and legal activities involving the complex debate over the health risks of man-made environmental electromagnetic fields. The book offers far more than a solution to the contentious health issue. The story provides a portal into how science actually works, which you will see differs dramatically from the romantic notion of an objective search for truth. You will understand that science is a human enterprise, all too human, inescapably enmeshed in uncertainty. This realization has the potential to change your life because it will likely affect whom you choose to believe, and with what degree of confidence.

The environment is now thoroughly polluted by man-made sources of electromagnetic radiation with frequencies and magnitudes never before present. Man's activities have probably changed the earth's electromagnetic background to a greater degree than they have changed any other natural physical attribute of the earth. The evidence now indicates that the present abnormal electromagnetic environment constitutes a significant health risk. There are also positive aspects of the relationship between electromagnetism and life. Clinical uses of electromagnetic energy are increasing and promise to expand into important areas in the near future. This book synthesizes the various aspects of the role of electricity in biology.

The story told here by Robert O. Becker's most accomplished student is a thrilling intellectual adventure and a tragedy in the classic sense. Becker's great strengths were his independence and courage, his visionary scientific insights, his single-mindedness, his devotion to his patients, and his contempt for the ignorance and time-serving that he felt had poisoned biology and medicine. These qualities warred with his flaws and led to humiliating defeats that prevented recognition of his work and acceptance of his ideas. He was a poor fit for a scientific establishment based on blind, unquestioning adherence to orthodoxy. He was on a heroic quest in an unheroic time; his character and choices as well as the folly of the times led to the tragic end of his career.