Science and Inquiry discussion

I'm sure that this book isn't news to anyone, but after years of having it on my TBR list, I finally got around to reading (actually, devouring) it this weekend. What an amazing little book that James D. Watson has penned!--his account of the discovery of the structure of DNA, a book that is as quirky and brillant as its author. I love how Dr. Watson brings to life the personal quirks, shortcomings, and peculiarities of many of the greatest minds in 20th century science--Linus Pauling, Francis Crick, Sir Bragg, and Rosalind Franklin--as they race one another to the scientific red ribbon, the victor of the race knowing that they will win a coveted Nobel Prize.

I thought that I knew a lot about the main characters in this play, but I still learned a lot from this little memoir. Francis Crick, a man whose genius spanned from DNA, proteomics, to hypothesizing about the structural underpinnings of consciousness, appears to be at least hypomanic much of the time and the version of Rosalind Franklin is definitely not the one you were taught about in college! Linus Pauling's brillance is as clear as ever, but his relationship to his son was news to me as was the man's overall good nature, which is demonstrated at the end of the book when he concedes that Watson and Crick have beaten him to the prize. The epilogue is moving and the image of the Nobel Prize ceremony at the end (John Steinbeck surrounded by a bunch of scientists...I wonder what they were talking about!?!) is a nice finish to a wonderful read.

Dr. Leonardo Noto

www.leonardonoto.com or follow me on Twitter @DrLeonardoNoto

Yes, it's a wonderful book. I read it many years ago. Maybe it's about time to do a reread.

This is waiting patiently on my TBR pile. Glad to hear you both enjoyed it though...I really must get around to reading it soon!

It's a fun little book, The Double Helix; I first read and enjoyed it in high school.

Apparently, some of Watson's coworkers weren't too happy about the book. Interesting read:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/201...

Nice article, Pete.

I enjoyed the TV dramatization as well.

That's was a great article, thanks! I wasn't aware that "The Double Helix" had been made into a TV drama--I'll have to track it down.

A&E ran it several times at one point; haven't seen it in years. Title of the movie is The Race for the Double Helix, and a VHS tape is available on Amazon for 75 dollars (just checked). I hear it's used in a lot of science classrooms, and the DVD is priced ridiculously (169$???) as a result.

Oh...in that case, I think I'll be content with having read the book! Thanks for the info!

You could sign up for high school biology?

Snort.

Ha...yes, but they don't even teach evolution in high school biology...I imagine that it's difficult to teach about DNA when you can't teach about its relevance!

Looking back, I'm still shocked at how much evolution I got in high school biology classes.

And I went to religiously-affiliated schools!

Most have been nice...all we did in my school was dissect frogs and memorize phyla. I hated science until I went to college, at which point I realized that it was my passion.

We dissected frogs (7th), fetal pigs (10th), and cats (AP). (I also took chemistry (yay), "earth science," (yay), and "physical science" (ow).)

Leonardo wrote: "Ha...yes, but they don't even teach evolution in high school biology...I imagine that it's difficult to teach about DNA when you can't teach about its relevance!"

And the real question is why has/did that change?

Born-again Christians in Texas, that's who I blame.