The Double Helix: A Classic of Science Writing from Scribner

Busy Somerset Mum: I've just finished reading the book. It was just as gripping as the first time I read it, 45 years ago! It was on my reading list before university.
It's very much of the time, so it might seem a bit sexist to some. Just remember what it was like for working women then! Thankfully for me, in the science world of the 1980s, things had much improved.
It was an exciting account of a research lab and the eccentricities of the associated boffins. I found it exciting, even though I knew the outcome. It ends with a fitting tribute to Rosalind Franklin, who died before they got the Nobel prize.

United Kingdom on Nov 22, 2023

Steve Johnston: A book describing one of the greatest discoveries in human history. fast shipping and delivery. Thanks.

United States on Oct 07, 2023

Anthony F Maresco: Fascinating! The Social Story and the Technical Story. The competition and the collaboration. How this monumental achievement came together, step by step, with each scientist contributing his and her part. The mistakes and the correct conclusions described in equal detail. Each scientist comes to life so that they will now be more than names in a text. An engaging, educational, and insightful story 55 years after the book and 70 years after the discovery.

United States on Sep 05, 2023

Indrashil Rao: It is the most important discovery of the 20th century which explains how we came to be

India on Jun 30, 2023

redway: It's fun reading what famous scientists wrote when they're young and making discoveries.
You often see pictures of famous scientists when they are old and established and forget that at one time they were young and precocious.

Canada on Apr 22, 2023

halt2010: Superbe découverte qui a heureusement beaucoup aidé à la compréhension du fonctionnement du vivant.
Ce livre est assez révélateur du fonctionnement des laboratoires en Angleterre.
On a parfois l'impression que les scientifiques ne contrôlent pas vraiment ce qui leur arrive. Ils ne semblent pas très moteurs... Heureusement que Watson a rencontré Crick.
Très intéressant de découvrir la très mauvaise place faire à Rosy, probablement représentatif de la place des femmes dans les laboratoires à cette époque.-

France on Jan 14, 2022

AGA: Un libro muy curioso y entretenido, aunque hay que leerlo aplicando un filtro corrector de la exuberante personalidad del Dr. Watson. Esta edición es bastante menos deseable que la versión comentada de Gann y Witkowski, que compré también en Amazon, de segunda mano y a muy buen precio. La versión comentada se lee más fácilmente y tiene mucha información adicional.

Spain on Nov 20, 2019

Arun Goud: I decided to give this book a try after watching the short, well-acted BBC Horizon documentary "Life Story" which is based on this book with Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm of Jurassic Park) playing the role of James D. Watson. The names of James Watson and Francis Crick have been forever immortalized in high school biology textbooks for their principal role in the 1953 discovery of the molecular structure of the DNA with the names of Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin being only mentioned in passing. They make it seem as if everything was smooth sailing during this discovery. "Honest Jim" puts any such misgivings on the part of the reader to complete rest by giving a brutally candid and perhaps even one-sided recounting of the events that led to the fateful 1953 discovery.

This 226 page book, first published in 1968, has gained much notoriety and rightly so for some of the statements made by the author would seem bold, innopportune and outright outrageous.

There are a lot of personalities involved and like another reviewer I'll list the most important ones and their situation in 1951

1. James Watson - A 23 year old recently-graduated molecular biologist and...

United States on Mar 30, 2013

laurenjayne: The Double Helix, A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, is a great book, which I would highly recommend. Written by James D. Watson, it is a novel about the adventures and struggles James Watson and Francis Crick went through to finally discover the double helix structure. The book is very well written and you can never put the book down. The subject is so informative and interesting that you can't help but keep flipping through the pages. This was such an amazing discovery, which makes the book that much better to read. Watson is great at thoroughly explaining the challenges they went through. They fail many times, like all scientists sometimes do, but it all paid off in the end. He tells the story very well, and explains the different encounters he had with many different scientists. He talks about his times working with Crick in the Cavendish laboratory, and what they went through to finally discover DNA. Watson writes a lot about the scientific part of his discovery, but also writes about the adventures and vacations he went on, which make the story that much more interesting. The novel also has pictures in it, which I love. They help me follow the plot...

United States on Apr 16, 2012

Russell A. Rohde MD: "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...

United States on Nov 09, 2007