The Double Helix

Submitted By Evanpakela
Words: 301
Pages: 2

This book was very good it's about a kid who works for a science companyjsjrhfdddddfccffffgfffttttWatson is an excellent storyteller, something which cannot be said of most scientists. He successfully ensnares the reader into the drama of the moment, describing the personalities involved and making the science attainable to any reader. The discovery of the double helix as the structure of DNA is perhaps the most remarkable event in biology after Darwin's grand theory of Evolution. Watson and Crick devised the structure using tinker-toy-like models and corroborating their findings with x-ray crystallographs which were surreptitiously taken from the laboratory of Rosalind Franklin.

Watson was a wunderkind American who acquired his PhD in zoology at the age of 23; Crick was a 35 year-old boisterous gad-about who was struggling for direction, having earned his BS in physics and unable to get the proper motivation for a PhD. The unlikely duo hit it off and agreed that DNA biochemistry was the ticket to recognition. At this time Linus Pauling at CalTech was transitioning his emphasis from proteins to DNA, setting the stage for a race to find the secret of the genetic code.

Watson spins the yarn in dramatic fashion, writing in 1968, fifteen years after the discovery and 6 years after the Nobel. He offers an apologia of sorts to Dr. Franklin, who was taken aback by the use of her xrays without permission. Watson admits that her gender had much to do with the raw treatment she