In the actual text, the word "shocking" was in scare quotes and meant exactly the opposite of what it seems to mean here.

This is worth a selective read if are a serious student of the cigarette industry and how it knew early about nicotine's additive and harmful effects. It provides a good insight into the thinking and industry-wide processes. Since it quotes extensively from actual corporate memos (that were given to the Univ of California by an unknown donor) it can be dry reading at times. The authors have organized the raw material well. While this is an important book, and revealing of a rich and powerful industry, it is more useful as a reference. A more readable book on the tobacco industry is Ashes to Ashes by Richard Kluger.