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What Mad Pursuit, by Francis Crick
Free PDF What Mad Pursuit, by Francis Crick
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Candid, provocative, and disarming, this is the widely-praised memoir of the co-discoverer of the double helix of DNA.
- Sales Rank: #491734 in eBooks
- Published on: 2008-08-06
- Released on: 2008-08-06
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Crick's co-discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA (for which he shared a Nobel Prize with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins) was a maddening pursuit beset with false ideas, sloppy models, inconclusive results and fiascos. This will not come as news to readers of Watson's 1968 bestseller The Double Helix. Part memoir, part scientific primer, Crick's gracefully written reminiscence is more concerned with elucidating the intuitive leaps, feats of intellectual courage and perceptual skills that underlie the act of scientific discovery. Writing about his own career with uncommon modesty, he describes his current research into human consciousness and neuroanatomy; brain science of the 1980s, he concludes, is much like molecular biology of the '30s: the major questions remain largely unanswered. One wishes Crick were less reticent about his personal life. His occasional technical forays here into natural selection, the deciphering of the genetic code and theories of perception illuminate how science works. Illustrations.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA Crick and Jim Watson received the 1962 Nobel Prize for their discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Here, Crick details his early training as a physicist; explains how he came to be at Cambridge studying X-ray crystallography; and shows his great respect for other scientists such as Linus Pauling, Sir Lawrence Bragg, Max Perutz, and Sidney Brenner. The writing is clear and straightforward, even when the renderings become technical. The appendixes elaborate further on the detailed biochemistry of the subject. Crick relates both the problems and the successes that he and Watson incurred in their "mad pursuit" of the mysteries within the DNA molecule. He concludes this volume with a discussion of his work at the Salk Institute in California. A shorter version of Crick's life and work appears in Lewis Wolpert and Alison Richards' Passion for Science (Oxford, 1988), but the longer version will be of interest to more persistent students.Robyn Cook Schuster, Episcopal High School, Bellaire, Tex.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
The man who is widely acknowledged to be the best biologist since Darwin, the co-discoverer of DNA, tells his side of the story in this widely-praised memoir. Sloan Foundation Science Series.
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Do yourself a favor, pick up What Mad Pursuit
By technophobic
In choosing popular science books, I use a couple of ground rules;
- First Rule: Never pick books written by journalists or other professional writers without scientific training and practical experience. At best, their work is "on the job training." You are always left wondering whether their assertions are maybe off-the-wall. Their understanding of the subject matter is not deep enough to see the counterpoints.
- Second Rule: For professional writers WITH scientific training & experience but without being in the class of Einstein or Feynman (limiting myself to 20th century examples), pick their first book, probably the one that made them famous and opened the gates to more writing. A good example here is Douglas Hofstadter, whose G�del, Escher, Bach was terrific. The trouble with the professional writers cum solid scientists is that their later works tend to become repetitive or steer us in directions where their qualifications are lacking.
- Third Rule: For scientists of the top shelf, pick any of their popular writings, although you may want to start with their most personal book.
The above is a long way to explain how I got to What Mad Pursuit, by Francis Crick. Crick was of the Einstein/Feynman class. What Mad Pursuit is a slender, popular volume, putatively about Crick's pursuits in molecular biology and the discoveries (with James Watson) of the DNA structure & the genetic code, but actually about Crick's personal experiences with scientific discoveries. Descriptions of the work on the DNA structure and the genetic code illustrate the way discoveries come about. Factors such as partnership (Watson), collaboration, competition, priority and recognition are all covered - and without a single trace of self-absorption, an Englishman the way you like to think about them.
A touching part of the book is the Epilogue - here you are, one of a handful of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, but what do you do with the rest of your life (in Crick's case 40 years) after the discoveries that brought you fame? What do you do for a second act? Without saying so directly, Crick appeared to have understood that second acts (a la Einstein or Bardeen) are near impossible. Reading the Epilogue, he appeared to be at peace with it.
Do yourself a favor and pick up What Mad Pursuit.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Interesting and provocative
By P. B. Sharp
I have been intrigued with Francis Crick after reading James Watson's "The Double Helix." Crick, with his non-stop talk and his booming laugh stepped out of those pages as a very unique personality as well as a unique scientist. Crick almost seems to have emerged a full-blown scientist like Athena from the head of Zeus. He was incredibly knowledgeable even as a somewhat elderly (over thirty) graduate student. In "Mad Pursuit" Dr. Crick takes your thumb and firmly imbeds it into the scientific pie In order to understand the background necessary to fathom the depths of the physical and three dimensional aspect of DNA, an understanding of crystal diffraction is necessary. Crick makes sure you're with him as he explains.
The atoms of a crystal cause an X ray beam to diffract into many specific directions, creating "spots." The resulting pattern can tell the expert the atoms present in that particular molecule and how they are arranged. DNA is relatively simple with the four bases, adenine paired with thymine, cytosine with guanine. Whatever the sequence on one helix strand, the other has to have the complementary sequence: always C with G and A with T. Crick says the relatively simple arrangement of only four bases was necessary for life to get established in the new universe, the simpler the better for achieving success.
The chapter called "How to live with a Golden Helix" is my favorite as Crick puts his spin on the famous events surrounding the phenomenal break through. He says that it it is DNA itself, not the scientists who are glamorous, although one could argue this point. Perhaps the crux of the discussion is Crick's take on Rosalind Franklin and the feud between her and Maurice Wilkins at King's College, London. Crick's "What mad Pursuit" was published in 1988 and in the years since, Franklin, even though deceased, has become famous in her own right. Crick remarks that Rosalind did not have the panache of Linus Pauling, which is certainly true. Very few scientists have Pauling's showmanship. But Crick remarks that he and Watson at Cambridge worked harmoniously together, while workers at King's did not. Franklin apparently thought Wilson considered her his assistant and rebelled. Crick, however, does not make the salient point that Wilkins showed Watson one of Franklin's Xray diffraction pictures-the now famous #51- which he borrowed without Franklin's knowledge or permission. The wily Watson took one look at the diffraction pattern and knew at once that the B form of DNA was a double helix. Crick says that Franklin was very, very close to solving the mystery herself, only two steps away.
"What mad pursuit" is a quotation from Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn."Crick describes the red herrings, sloppy science, unsound, unproven ideas and fiascoes that confront the research scientist. He also describes the flights of sheer brilliance and courage that accompany any scientific discovery. His book is part memoir part genetics 101 as he takes you on his journeys into the depths pure science. He talks about natural selection, and the genetic code and as a Professor at the Salk Institute his then current studies of neuroanatomy, brain science.
The text is accompanied by really wonderful photographs of many of the major players on his stage. You'll see Linus Pauling with his molecule models, looking like the conjuror he was, Wilkins, Watson and other famous investigators, his wife Odile and his mother for whom Crick is a dead ringer. One wishes the modest Crick had talked more about his personal life, but the impression he gives is that of a charming extrovert who just happened to be a great scientist.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Intense and witty account
By Roberto Rigolin Ferreira Lopes
This Crick guy found a cute molecule that happens to be at the very core of all life forms. What an exciting pursuit! Here, he shares the whole adventure + a bit of himself. Such an intense and witty person even testing the peer-review process using a reference to “Leonardo Da Vinci (personal communication)”. You will find many fun anecdotes + details of the reasoning behind the discovery.
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