The episode is about Gerald L. Geison's book, The Private Science of Louis Pasteur, which examines Pasteur's life and work through analysis of his unpublished laboratory notebooks. Geison demonstrates that Pasteur, although regarded as a scientific hero, was an ambitious man willing to manipulate his data to support his theories and gain recognition for his discoveries. The author explores several instances of alleged scientific fraud by Pasteur, particularly in relation to his work on vaccines for chicken cholera, anthrax, and rabies. Geison argues that Pasteur's true story is more complex and nuanced than traditionally recognized.