a book
The Double Helix
James D. Watson Ph.D. · 2001 · 256 pages
By identifying the structure of DNA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won themselves a Nobel Prize. At the time, Watson was only twenty-four, a young scientist hungry to make his mark. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against other world-class researchers to solve one of science’s greatest mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a world of brilliant scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries.
With humility unspoiled by false modesty, Watson relates his and Crick’s desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the Holy Grail of life sciences, the identification of the basic building block of life. Never has a scientist been so truthful in capturing in words the flavor of his work.
recommended by 4 people
sourced from public statements
Andrej Karpathy
“I read this quite a long time ago but I remember it being an interesting account of what science looks like from the trenches. The struggles, uncertainty, the thrill of the race with other labs. It also paints a realistic picture of discoveries: it's not one sudden eureka moment that changes everything but a process of gradual narrowing down of the truth with a sequence of smaller eureka moments in between.”
Peter Attia
“[For people on my career path, I'd recommend] biographies of people who have ‘built skyscrapers’ (my term); for example: [...]”
books like The Double Helix
other books recommended by the same people who recommend this one
The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins
3 shared recommenders
The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA
James D. Watson
3 shared recommenders
A Crack in Creation
Jennifer A. Doudna
2 shared recommenders
Atomic Habits
James Clear
2 shared recommenders
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson
2 shared recommenders
Foundation
Isaac Asimov
2 shared recommenders
Harry Potter: the Complete Series
J. K. Rowling
2 shared recommenders
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie, Robert Petkoff, Donna Dale Carnegie, Simon & Schuster Audio
2 shared recommenders
In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
Steven Levy
2 shared recommenders
More Money Than God
Sebastian Mallaby
2 shared recommenders
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
2 shared recommenders
Surely you are joking Mr Feynman
Richard Feynman
2 shared recommenders