Since it was a best-seller, I really expected the book to have a happy ending. So I was surprised that things don't quite work out for the main character, and that the case seems to almost drive him crazy.

I'm a little worried I might go down the same path as him: Trying to take on a gargantuan task to try to prove a point a win a little fame along the way. One big difference, though, on my side is that I can make some money by writing articles as I go along. The lawyer, on the other hand racked up $2.5 million in debts to build a case, in hopes of returns that are far larger than that. He went for broke, and wound up broke.

Still, he's incredibly admirable: He fought hard because he wanted to make a point, led by his intuition that chemical dumping was hurting people, even when the evidence was murky.