The book includes 26 essays.
The essays on medical topics include: scientific discoveries made during dreams; the sudden disappearance of the entire staff of an emergency room one spring evening; the outer limits to the human capacity to learn medical vocabulary; the use of DNA to transmit covert messages; medical discoveries made by students and residents; the origins of NIH medical research grants; the historic origins of a Hispanic amulet to prevent disease; an error of medical analysis called "The Bellman's Fallacy;" and the US project to send an entire hospital to England to help the British in World War II long before Pearl Harbor.
Essays on Shakespeare include: the discovery of paintings of all plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works; plant poisons in Shakespeare's writings; a deeper meaning of King Lear; Shakespeare's bilingual play; and Shakespeare's views on memory.
Additional essays discuss former Supreme Court Justice Souter; the burial of Senator Robert F. Kennedy; African slaves in the northern colonies of what became the United States; and the lives of two great European writers who were descendants of African slaves.