Sir Peter Medawar is a scientist of world renown, receiving among his many honours the Nobel Prize in 1960, for his work on immunology and organ transplantation. This modestly-titled book - deriving from Pascal's 'thinking reed' and Falstaff's 'forked radish' - is a fascinating autobiography of an exceptional man. An incisive and witty writer, he describes his life in Rio de Janiero, Malborough and Oxford, his family, his experiences in hospital after a series of major strokes, and much more.