The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Nonfiction / Science & Nature / Biology / Watson, James D, 572.86 Wa
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Science & Nature / Biology / Watson, James D	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	572.86 Wa	4-week checkout	Due 05-22-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Science & Nature / Biology / Watson, James D	4-week checkout	Due 05-24-2024

On the fiftieth anniversary of Watson and Crick receiving the Nobel Prize, a freshly annotated and illustrated edition of The Double Helix provides new insights into the personal relationships among James Watson, Frances Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and a scientific revolution. In his 1968 memoir, The Double Helix, James Watson offered a thrilling drama of the race among scientists to identify the structure of DNA. Professors Alexander Gann and Jan Witkowski have built upon this narrative; juxtaposing Watsons' racy account with the commentary of other protagonists offering an enhanced perspective of the now legendary story. They have mined many sources: including a trove of newly discovered correspondence belonging to Francis Crick mislaid some fifty years earlier; excerpts from the papers of Maurice Wilkins, Linus Pauling, and Rosalind Franklin; and a chapter that had been dropped from the original. After half a century, the implications of the double helix keep rippling outward; the tools of molecular biology have forever transformed the life sciences. The New Annotated and Illustrated Edition of The Double Helix adds a richness to the account of the momentous events that led the charge. The Double Helix is the best book I know about a scientific discovery this new edition suffuses the whole with social history, fascinating documentation, photography, and cunning background research. The early fifties, the beginning of the modern age of molecular biology, spring to life. Ian McEwan, author of Atonement --Provided by publisher.
Contents: Double helix.

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Excellent Update of Science History Book submitted by pk on June 17, 2013, 6:07pm If you want to know more about the history of science, The Double Helix is a great choice. It's through the eyes of a 20- something, up and coming, amusingly cocky scientist (James Watson, the author) and details his part in the discovery of the structure of DNA. This edition, with annotation and original letters, plus the views of others who saw things slightly differently than James Watson, make it all the more fascinating. Yes, there is science involved, but so much of it is about the feel of the times, how it was to be involved in high level science academia back then. It is a gripping read. I would have appreciated a little more background on some of the social and political events of the time, but overall they did a wonderful job bringing more life and interest to this book.

A "Non-Fiction Novel" of Discovery submitted by Jan Wolter on July 23, 2013, 11:48am This is an unusual science book, in that it really isn't a science book at all. It's a personal narrative of the lives of the discoverers of DNA during the years when they discovered DNA. It's all personalities and luncheons and diversions down the wrong track and struggles with money and housing, mixed in with a slow convergence on one of the most important scientific discoveries of the modern era. You won't learn a lot about genetics from the book, but you'll better appreciate the moments when bits of the truth glint through from the confusion if you come to it with a basic high-school understanding of what DNA is and how it works. It reminded me of Richard Feynman's very entertaining book, "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman" with it's entertaining and light-hearted view of the life of a brilliant scientist. It turns out, Feynman was peripherally involved in getting "The Double Helix" published, and no doubt it served as an inspiration in his own popular writings.

The version I read was this annotated version, and I have to admit that I didn't spend all that much time with the annotations. They provide a lot of perspective and background detail, but I didn't really feel the need to know a whole lot more than was in Watson's original text. The addition of Watson's description of winning of the Nobel Prize and a "lost" chapter were more welcome to me, but I skipped a long chapter discussing in detail Watson's difficulties with his fellowship money. There is also some discussion of how the book was written and published (over the objections of co-Nobel Prize winners Wilkins and Crick, among others).