Unless the reviewer just didn't mention it, the story of how Bell's metal detector failed isn't covered in the book...or at least not covered the same. it was covered in detail ...ok, but the review you linked to described the problem as stemming from the doctor not letting Bell work on the correct side, when the problem was the false positive from the metal spring mattress which Bell didn't even know was even a thing. it's a book the reviewer can't summarize the entire thing The point of the story is that the doctor's killed him by ignoring the concept of sterilization. They were digging in there looking for the bullet with dirty hands before Bell even showed up on the scene. Yeah, the treatment is a huge part of the book, but the metal detector is just one small part of a much bigger story. Why would someone expect a review to mention everything covered in a book? That's an odd expectation.