The Magnificent Possession

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About this book

Walter Sills has spent years in a shabby laboratory overlooking the Hudson River, earning barely enough from ore analyses to keep his experiments going. At fifty, he believes a chemical discovery will finally bring him recognition and money. His cheerful friend Eugene Taylor watches as that ambition takes shape in a substance that promises the appearance of gold at a fraction of the cost.

Isaac Asimov turns this laboratory breakthrough into a comic science fiction story about the scramble to profit from an invention. An industrialist fears for his plating business, a former congressman spots an opportunity, and unwelcome visitors converge on the laboratory. Scientific explanations share space with boastful speeches, dubious proposals and broken glassware. The appeal lies in watching a chemist's dream of success collide with other people's greed and his friend's practical reactions.