James D. Watson

Andrew Berry

The Secret of Life

Kevin Davies

The definitive insider's history of the genetic revolution--significantly updated to reflect the discoveries of the last decade. James D. Watson, the Nobel laureate whose pioneering work helped unlock the mystery of DNA's structure, charts the greatest scientific journey of our time, from the discovery of the double helix to today's controversies to what the future may hold. Updated to include new findings in gene editing, epigenetics, agricultural chemistry, as well as two entirely new chapters on personal genomics and cancer research. This is the most comprehensive and authoritative exploration of DNA's impact--practical, social, and ethical--on our society and our world.

The Story of the Genetic Revolution

A critical edition of James D. Watson's account of he and Francis Crick's 1953 discovery of the DNA double helix, including reviews by Gunther Stent and other scientists and scholars.

A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

The Double Helix

A witty scientific memoir by the Nobel Prize-winning co-discoverer of DNA describes a life devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, offering valuable lessons about how to get the most out of college, select a career, manage others, keep one's work relevant, how modern universities should change, and more. 30,000 first printing.

Lessons from a Life in Science

Avoid Boring People

Alexander Gann

Jan Witkowski

In his 1968 memoir, The Double Helix (Readers Union, 1969), the brash young scientist James Watson chronicled the drama of the race to identify the structure of DNA, a discovery that would usher in the era of modern molecular biology. After half a century, the implications of the double helix keep rippling outward; the tools of molecular biology have forever transformed the life sciences and medicine. The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix adds new richness to the account of the momentous events that led the charge.

The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix

'It is a strange model and embodies several unusual features. However, since DNA is an unusual substance, we are not hesitant in being bold.' By elucidating the structure of DNA, the molecule underlying all life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionised biochemistry.

The Discovery of the Structure of DNA

The Double Helix: a Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

Published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Nobel Prize for Watson and Crick’s discovery of the structure of DNA, an annotated and illustrated edition of this classic book gives new insights into the personal relationships between James Watson, Frances Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin, and the making of a scientific revolution.

Fifty years ago, James D. Watson, then just twentyfour, helped launch the greatest ongoing scientific quest of our time. Now, with unique authority and sweeping vision, he gives us the first full account of the genetic revolution—from Mendel’s garden to the double helix to the sequencing of the human genome and beyond. Watson’s lively, panoramic narrative begins with the fanciful speculations of the ancients as to why “like begets like” before skipping ahead to 1866, when an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel first deduced the basic laws of inheritance. But genetics as we recognize it today—with its capacity, both thrilling and sobering, to manipulate the very essence of living things—came into being only with the rise of molecular investigations culminating in the breakthrough discovery of the structure of DNA, for which Watson shared a Nobel prize in 1962. In the DNA molecule’s graceful curves was the key to a whole new science. Having shown that the secret of life is chemical, modern genetics has set mankind off on a journey unimaginable just a few decades ago. Watson provides the general reader with clear explanations of molecular processes and emerging technologies. He shows us how DNA continues to alter our understanding of human origins, and of our identities as groups and as individuals. And with the insight of one who has remained close to every advance in research since the double helix, he reveals how genetics has unleashed a wealth of possibilities to alter the human condition—from genetically modified foods to genetically modified babies—and transformed itself from a domain of pure research into one of big business as well. It is a sometimes topsy-turvy world full of great minds and great egos, driven by ambitions to improve the human condition as well as to improve investment portfolios, a world vividly captured in these pages. Facing a future of choices and social and ethical implications of which we dare not remain uninformed, we could have no better guide than James Watson, who leads us with the same bravura storytelling that made The Double Helix one of the most successful books on science ever published. Infused with a scientist’s awe at nature’s marvels and a humanist’s profound sympathies, DNA is destined to become the classic telling of the defining scientific saga of our age.

Tania A. Baker

Stephen P. Bell

Now completely up-to-date with the latest research advances, the Seventh Edition retains the distinctive character of earlier editions. Twenty-two concise chapters, co-authored by six highly distinguished biologists, provide current, authoritative coverage of an exciting, fast-changing discipline.

Molecular Biology of the Gene

John Cairns

Gunther Siegmund Stent

First published in 1966 as a 60th birthday tribute to Max Delbrck, this influential work is republished as "The Centennial Edition." The book was hailed as "[introducing] into the literature of science, for the first time, a self-conscious historical element in which the participants in scientific discovery engage in writing their own chronicle ("Journal of History of Biology").

Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology

John Tooze

Chief Petty Officer James Watson

James Dewey N

Written by two eminent researchers, this account incorporates the documents that embody the record of gene cloning and provides an illuminating commentary on the social and scientific ramifications of DNA research

A Documentary History of Gene Cloning

The DNA Story

Watson, Che

Michael Gilman

Jan A. Witkowski

Mark Zoller

Jan Witkowski, PH D

An overview of recombitant DNA techniques and surveys advances in recombinant molecular genetics, experimental methods and their results.

Recombinant DNA

A Nobel Prize-winning biochemist relates his monumental discovery of the structure of the hereditary molecule DNA

The Double Helix; a Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

A collection of outspoken and topical essays, speeches, and reports by J. D. Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA in 1953 and best-selling author of The Double Helix. These often controversial pieces cover the advance of molecular genetics, the prospect of curing cancer over the next decade, how human genetic knowledge is likely to be used, for good or bad, and Watson's early life and career.

Genes, Genomes, and Society

A Passion for DNA

Andrew James Berry

Updated to include new findings in gene editing, epigenetics, agricultural chemistry, as well as two new chapters on personal genomics and cancer research

James D. Watson looks back on his extraordinary and varied career -- from its beginnings as a schoolboy in Chicago's South Side to the day he left Harvard almost 50 years later, world-renowned as the co-discoverer of DNA -- and considers the lessons he has learnt along the way. The result is both an engagingly eccentric memoir and an insightful compendium of lessons in life for aspiring scientists. Watson's 'manners' range from those he learnt bird-watching with his father during the Great Depression ('Avoid fighting bigger boys and dogs' and 'Find a young hero toemulate') to the manners appropriate for a Nobel Prize ('Have friends close to those who rule'). He evokes his time as a graduate student in the 1940s ('Hire spunky lab helpers'); the excitement of working in DNA for the first time as well as having his first dates; his time working as a WhiteHouse advisor; and at Harvard in the '70s. Avoid Boring People is a quirky, original, wise, and infuriatingly un-put-downable blend of candid anecdotes and revealing insights into the life of one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century.

In 1953 Watson and Crick discovered the double helical structure of DNA and Watson's personal account of the discovery, The Double Helix, was published in 1968. Genes, Girls and Gamow is also autobiographical, covering the period from when The Double Helix ends, in 1953, to a few years later, and ending with a Postscript bringing the story up to date. Here is Watson adjusting to new-found fame, carrying out tantalizing experiments on the role of RNA in biology, and falling in love. Thebook is enlivened with copies of handwritten letters from the larger than life character George Gamow, who had made significant contributions to physics but became intrigued by genes, RNA and the elusive genetic code. This is a tale of heartbreak, scientific excitement and ambition, laced with travelogue and '50s atmosphere.

James D. Watson

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