Schneider says his work on mad-science experiments originated as a by-product of his time as the head of the science section of a now-defunct Swiss news magazine. "I accumulated a stack of research studies about weird experiments. Unfortunately, my editor had no desire to see these appear in print, because they violated all the basic journalistic criteria. They were utterly inconsequential, hopelessly ancient, or both." Schneider decided to hold on to his pile of clippings. Several years later, he was offered a chance to write a science column for NZZ Folio, the magazine of a major Swiss daily newspaper. The column led to a book called Science Book of the Year, which became an immediate bestseller in Germany and was later translated into nearly a dozen languages.