Review of
The Double Helix,
by James D. Watson
Five out of five stars
Popular rendition of a scientific triumph
Written in
1968, this book remains one of the best explanations of a scientific race for
success and a near certain Nobel Prize. In the years immediately following the
Second World War when scientists went back to working on non-military projects,
one of the most outstanding questions was how genetic material could be
reproduced in a nearly flawless way. Watson and his colleague Francis Crick
were the first to elucidate the helical structure of DNA, winning out over some
very talented rivals. This book is a popular explanation of their search, still
engaging reading over a half-century later.
Watson demonstrates that he is a very good writer, giving
minutiae when appropriate, including some of the personalities. It is a book
that should be read by scientists in training, for it will help make them both
humble and assertive. The only flaw is that Watson fails to give Rosalind
Franklin her due credit. For it was her X-ray photograph of DNA that gave
Watson and Crick the key insight to the structure of the complex DNA molecule.
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