What Mad Pursuit

+++++ THIS book, by Dr. Francis Crick (June 1916 to July 2004), is partly an autobiography and partly a science book. As for the science part, Crick elaborates: "I have written [this book] both for my fellow scientists and for the general public [and] believe a [non-scientist] can easily understand most of what I discuss...My advice to the reader, should he or she become stuck in...a [difficult, scientific] passage, is either to persevere or to skip to the next chapter. Most of the book is fairly easy. Don't give up hope just because a few paragraphs seem a little hard to follow." What, then, is the purpose of this book? Crick tells the reader: "The main purpose of this book is to set out some of my experiences before and during the classical period of molecular biology, which stretched from the discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953 till about 1966 when the genetic code...was finally elucidated." (Molecular biology is a branch of biology that studies the chemical and physical principles associated with the composition, properties, and activities of molecules in living cells. The genetic code is the dictionary relating the nucleic acid {such as DNA and RNA} language to the protein language.) Crick achieves his purpose admirably! He gives us an overview of his main, personal experiences and reveals his thoughts at each period in his life. I especially enjoyed his chapter entitled "The Gossip Test" and his memories about the "RNA Tie Club." I found the science part especially well done. He explains the science that led up to the discovery of DNA's structure but goes beyond this, explaining such things as the different types of RNA, protein structure, the genetic code, and theory in molecular biology. Everything is well explained and there are many helpful diagrams. Be aware that Crick decided not to give character sketches of his friends and colleagues especially James Watson (born: 1928), Maurice Wilkins (1916 to 2004), Rosalind Franklin (1920 to 1958) and Linus Pauling (1901 to 1994). In other words, he chose not to include "juicy" gossip in his book. I found this refreshing since I found that in reading other books similar to this one that such character sketches can be distracting to the main essence of the book. This book does not conclude in the year 1966 since Crick includes a final, long epilogue chapter entitled "My Later Years." This chapter is especially interesting as we are told how he moved on to the field of embryology or developmental biology to become involved generally in human brain science and more specifically in human consciousness. I found his theory of "panspermia" (that "is the idea that microorganisms drifted to the Earth through space and seeded all life on Earth") most interesting. This book has two excellent appendices that resemble a small course in basic genetics. I found these to be well written. Included near the middle of the book are over twenty black and white photographs. My favor

I've always been interested in the stories and scientists behind grand scientific discoveries. Everything seems so glamorous and magical on the news and in the textbooks. I know from experience that no science is as easy as it seems. Here, I read about how people in the different labs competed and worked together, got along and didn't get along, and discovered the structure of DNA as a side project. I was so amused by the anecdote about the RNA tie club that I actually laughed out loud. Each member was to receive a tiepin of one of the amino acids (so of course there could only be 20 members). Crick says he was to be tyr, but he never received his pin. There are even pictures of some of the members with there ties on. I am even more amused now that I'm in graduate school where we really do have an RNA club, but unfortunately no amino acid tiepins. The end of the book tries to get into the science and implications of the DNA structure discovery, but it is too quickly done and in the wrong context to really try to give textbook like information.

At first, I was reluctant about reading this book. What on earth could Francis Crick add to the story of the discovery of the double helix, that had not yet been told by his colleague, James Watson, in his famous book "The Double Helix"? A lot, as it turns out. In fact, the two books rarely overlap. Whereas Watson's book mainly relates his experiences as they worked their way towards discovery, Crick does what he does best: making comments. Also, Crick's book doesn't stop at the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, as Watson's book does, but continues with the cracking of the genetic code.Crick's book was written twenty years after Watson's book, and it shows. Watson's book contains a fresh story, the raw material out of which history is shaped. Crick's tale is a digested one: written after all the confusion of the moment had cleared up.

I am a graduate student in neuroscience and a book by crick was not without any expectations for me. I feel that the book is totally up to my expectations to feel the diversity of a scientific journey from physics to behavior neuroscience through a mile stone achievement in molecular biology.. In the starting Crick gets little stuck in discussion of existance of God which confuses a bit , but later on it is worth of reading in one go. A bonus point of this book is to know other great scientists of that time and their way of thinking , and an excellent capability of crick to pass the meassages of those souls to the reader in a very readable way.

This book is a very good background to Francis Crick's life. He led a very interesting life and he does a hell of a job describing it. Sometimes this book gets to wordy, but it is still a well written, thorough book.