"An Up Close & Personal Look at James D. Watson"

books:


	• The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA James D. Watson Touchstone, 2001 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"An Up Close & Personal Look at James D. Watson"

"The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of The Structure of DNA", James D. Watson, Simon & Shuster, NY 1968/2001. ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-1630-2, PB 226 pages, 20 B/W Photos & 11 Diagrams, plus 3 pg. Foreword by Sir L. Bragg & 4 pg. Intro. by S. Nasar. 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".

Written by Dr. James D. Watson in 1968, reprinted several times, this is one of the most intriguing, personal stories of scientific endeavors written to unravel the molecular basis of heredity and the genetic code of life itself, the DNA molecule - deservingly referenced as the Holy Grail of scientific inqiry. With an explanatory apology, Watson describes his maturation from an initial lazy undergraduate at Univ. of Chicago having primary interest in ornithology and avoiding chemistry and physics courses,to doing post-doctoral research abroad, first in Copenhagen and subsequently in Cambridge where he began serious research with Francis Crick that culminated in elucidating the molecular structure of the double helix DNA molecule with base-pairing of A-T and G-C, allowing a model construct possessing correspondence to its X-ray crystalline lattice structure. Much of the time it appeared to a 'Mission Impossible'. Success came in 1953, Watson was then 25 years old.

The author's prose and pace of relating this story reveals the passion of his quest to establish his mark in science - and he relates intimate anecdotes of his cohorts, teachers and the scientific cult of divisions enjoyed by the scholarly, erudite academicians in England and elsewhere. In the end, he shared along with his associate Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins, the Nobel Prize in 1962. The future of medicine was forever changed. The book is a compelling, refrehing read for anyone with a modicum of curiosity - a science background is not essential.

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Good book

Good book, very easy to read despite its scientific background. As an autobiography, it also makes no attempt to remain neutral, which makes it much more interesting than your average textbook.

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The Double Helix

I recommend this book to anyone with a curiosity about DNA or an inside view of the world of science. It is a book about personalities, egos, and following one's dreams. There is only enough technical stuff in the book for the story to make sense. The author, himself, avoided chemistry except when it became vital to learn. Yet, he and Francis Crick beat the greatest chemist of our times (i.e., Linus Pauling) in a race to determine the structure of DNA. Personally, I found this book to be a suprisingly delightful read. Ralph Hermansen 10/30/2007

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Which edition to get ?

I ended up getting copies of two different paperback editions.

The Simon & Schuster Touchstone Book, with a little bit of an introduction by Sylvia Nasar, has easy-to-read print and the photographs are pleasantly large. Good for reading in the subway.

But the Norton Critical edition, edited by Gunther S. Stent, is the one to get if you can only afford one. Its typeface leaves much to be desired, and, in my copy, some of the pages are hard to read because the printer seems to have run out of ink in the middle of the job. But the edition has materials that are indispensable for an understanding of this classic work of science. I enjoyed, most of all, Stent's essay "reviewing the reviews," showing both the wisdom (by some) and the foolishness (by others) with which the Double Helix was received by the scientific community.

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Science Memoir

I remember upon first reading The Double Helix I was delighted with the fact that Watson was a slacker and still managed to make one of the most important discoveries in biology. There was hope for me too! It is a pleasure to read a book about scientific discovery where the researchers are not mercilessly driven type-A personalities confined to their labs. A well-written account of the personalities and community behind a major scientific discovery, of the molding of disparate facts into a new theory that changed the field.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

By identifying the structure of DNA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won themselves a Nobel Prize. At the time, Watson was only twenty-four, a young scientist hungry to make his mark. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against other world-class researchers to solve one of science's greatest mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a world of brilliant scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries. With humility unspoiled by false modesty, Watson relates his and Crick's desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the Holy Grail of life sciences, the identification of the basic building block of life. Never has a scientist been so truthful in capturing in words the flavor of his work.

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