How I Beat Coca-Cola and Other Tales of One-Upmanship - Softcover

"These stories demonstrate that Carl Djerassi can write knowledgably and wittily not only about scientists, but also about smart, competitive, obsessive people from many other walks of life."--David Lodge, author of "A Man of Parts" "The mysterious and the secretive are a foundational and constitutive quality of these stories. I can personally ascertain that they stay with you, at times haunt you, long after reading."--Walter Gruenzweig, editor of "The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi""'s Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts" "Carl Djerassi can write knowledgeably and wittily not only about scientists, but also about smart, competitive, obsessive people from many other walks of life."--David Lodge, author of "Changing Places "and "A Man of Parts" "One of the pleasures of Carl Djerassi's witty, richly detailed stories is that they have the rare merit of letting us look into some special works--art, science--that are usually closed to writers who are only writers. The pen of the trained observer is as acute as his eye."--Diane Johnson, author of "L'Affaire" "These stories describe abstract conflicts, jockeying for prestige, or social interactions seen as complexes of negotiation, and the pleasure they give is akin to that of being taken through a skillful game of chess by an explicitly authoritative commentator."--Colin Greenland, "Times Literary Supplement" This was a meal which, the more I ate, the hungrier I became. . . . The stories are attitudinal and intellectual, even instructive. They bring the reader into the culture and cultivated taste of the sophisticated, worldly, even jaunty Djerassi: upper-crust Brits, opera, food, art, money, and sex (and sex and sex). . . . These stories are sophisticated fun. Jeffrey I. Seeman, Chemical & Engineering News " These stories describe abstract conflicts, jockeying for prestige, or social interactions seen as complexes of negotiation, and the pleasure they give is akin to that of being taken through a skillful game of chess by an explicitly authoritative commentator. Colin Greenland, Times Literary Supplement" One of the pleasures of Carl Djerassi s witty, richly detailed stories is that they have the rare merit of letting us look into some special works art, science that are usually closed to writers who are only writers. The pen of the trained observer is as acute as his eye. Diane Johnson, author of L Affaire" Carl Djerassi can write knowledgeably and wittily not only about scientists, but also about smart, competitive, obsessive people from many other walks of life. David Lodge, author of Changing Places and A Man of Parts" "This was a meal which, the more I ate, the hungrier I became. . . . The stories are attitudinal and intellectual, even instructive. They bring the reader into the culture and 'cultivated taste' of the sophisticated, worldly, even jaunty Djerassi: upper-crust Brits, opera, food, art, money, and sex (and sex and sex). . . . These stories are sophisticated fun."--Jeffrey I. Seeman, "Chemical & Engineering News"

Carl Djerassi crafts a shrewd collection of comedies of manners, exposing the foibles of elite tribes-business executives, chefs, scientists, professors, musicians, and other clever characters. They spar in battles of one-upmanship using class, education, gender, or prestige as their weapons, sometimes leaving damaged bystanders in their wake but sometimes finding their superiority deflated by unexpected turns of events.