A review under review: spontaneous scalarization

Between February 2021 and March 2024, I had the privilege of writing and then publishing the review article "Spontaneous scalarization" in the Reviews of Modern Physics together with a fantastic team of collaborators. Why did we decide to write this article? How did we approach the writing process? What challenges did we face? Is there anything we would have done differently? In this talk, I will share my experiences in this three-year-long enterprise. Along the way, I will discuss the key physics ideas behind spontaneous scalarization, its role in gravitational physics, and future perspectives.