The Double Helix: A personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA - Softcover

JAMES DEWEY WATSON

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140031421 ISBN 13: 9780140031423

Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD, 1971

Synopsis

178p black paperback, newspaper clipping inserted, with plates, nice clean and tight copy, this copy published in the year 1971 in the series entitled Penguin Books.

About this title

Review

"Science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders," writes James Watson in The Double Helix, his account of his codiscovery (along with Francis Crick) of the structure of DNA. Watson and Crick won Nobel Prizes for their work, and their names are memorized by biology students around the world. But as in all of history, the real story behind the deceptively simple outcome was messy, intense, and sometimes truly hilarious. To preserve the "real" story for the world, James Watson attempted to record his first impressions as soon after the events of 1951-1953 as possible, with all their unpleasant realities and "spirit of adventure" intact.

Watson holds nothing back when revealing the petty sniping and backbiting among his colleagues, while acknowledging that he himself was a willing participant in the melodrama. In particular, Watson reveals his mixed feelings about his famous colleague in discovery, Francis Crick, who many thought of as an arrogant man who talked too much, and whose brilliance was appreciated by few. This is the joy of The Double Helix--instead of a chronicle of stainless-steel heroes toiling away in their sparkling labs, Watson's chronicle gives readers an idea of what living science is like, warts and all. The Double Helix is a startling window into the scientific method, full of insight and wit, and packed with the kind of science anecdotes that are told and retold in the halls of universities and laboratories everywhere. It's the stuff of legends. --Therese Littleton

From the Back Cover

Since its publication in 1968, 'The Double Helix' has given over a million readers a rare and exciting look at one highly significant piece of scientific research--Watson and Crick's race to discover the molecular structure of the gene. In this critical edition, Watson's lively and irreverent account is placed in historical perspective by Gunther Stent's introduction and by retrospective views from two major figures in the adventure, Francis Crick and Linus Pauling, and by Rosalind Franklin's last student, Aaron Klug.

Edition details

• Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD
• Publication date: 1971
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140031421
• ISBN 13: 9780140031423
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 188