Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets |  | Author: Robert Olby
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Category: Book
List Price: $45.00
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 495112
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 450
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 0879697989
Dewey Decimal Number: 572.8092
EAN: 9780879697983
ASIN: 0879697989
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
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Product Description
This engrossing biography by one of molecular biology's foremost scholars reveals the remarkable evolution of Francis Crick's scientific career and the shaping of his personality. From unpromising beginnings, he became a vital contributor to a remarkably creative period in science. Olby chronicles Crick's life from his early studies in biophysics, to the discovery of the structure of DNA, to his later work in neuroscience and the nature of consciousness. This account is woven together with insights into his personal life gained through access to Crick's papers, family, and friends. Robert Olby's book is a richly detailed portrait of one of the great scientists of our time.Related Titles from the Publisher
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| Customer Reviews:
Marvelous biography of a great scientist September 5, 2009
Errol C. Friedberg (Dallas, TX USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Recent years have witnessed a slew of biographies, autobiographies and memoirs featuring some of the greatest biologists of the last century--perhaps of any century. They include James Watson, Max Perutz, Arthur Kornberg and Seymour Benzer, to name a few. Missing from this august list are comprehensive biographies (short ones have been done) of Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner. Robert Olby, a historian of science at the University of Pittsburgh has presented a compelling and authoratative Crick biography that's a must for any contemporary biologist. The science is rather dense so non-biologists may struggle---but give it a shot anyway; the personality is compelling too. As for Brenner, Crick's collaborator for 15 years after the famous Watson-Crick partnership, I have it on good authority that his life story is in the works.
Outdoing yourself October 15, 2009
Stanley Shostak (Pittsburgh, PA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Robert Olby's biography of Francis Crick is written with the authority and delicacy of a friend who had earned Crick's confidence for "working on his biography ... provided publication would not occur during his life" (xiv). Olby tells a compelling story of a clever Brit who knew what he wanted to do with his life from early on and managed to do a lot of what he intended. Crick didn't retire after helping to solve "the mystery of life" by discovering the structure of hereditary material. He didn't rest on his Nobel-laurels but worked on virtually every major problem of molecular biology in "The Excitiement of the Sixties" from the key to the genetic code to mechanisms of protein synthesis, from phage genetics to gradients in developing organisms. Ultimately, Crick directed his search to the meaning of consciousness and "slaying the immortal soul" (410). What a well told tale of a well spent life and glorious chase!.
Excellent, readable and enlightening October 28, 2009
Ann M. Altman (Connecticut)
The audience for this book will surely consist of many who know something of Francis Crick and his elucidation, with James Watson, of the double-helical structure of DNA, but much will be new to them in this book about one of the most original minds of the twentieth century. The pleasure of reading about familiar and unfamiliar aspects of Crick's life and work is enhanced by the author's light touch and elegant writing style. Olby's insights into Crick's thought processes and the exemplary and carefully documented accounts of ground-breaking discoveries demonstrate how the field of molecular biology developed in the 1950's and 1960's, with credit distributed appropriately to all participants. In addition, the successes and failures of Crick's subsequent forays into other fields are described "warts and all." This book will be the standard against which future biographies of Crick will be judged and it will be a brave and ambitious author who tries to improve upon it.
The Secret of Life November 4, 2009
John C. Cate IV
By John C Cate (Nashville)
Robert Olby has written the authorized biography of one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. The lineage of books about Francis Crick begins with James Watson's "The Double Helix", continues with Matt Ridley's "Francis Crick:Discoverer of the Genetic Code" and ends with Olby's excellent book "Francis Crick:Hunter of Life's Secrets."
In 1962 James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins won the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for solving the structure of DNA. Starting in about 1951, Watson and Crick began periodic work on DNA structure. By 1953, Sir Willam Bragg, head of the Cavendish laboratories at Cambridge, in competition with Linus Pauling, allowed Crick and Watson to work full time on DNA. After proving, by X-Ray diffraction patterns and model building, that the DNA molecule had a helical structure then, within less than 10 years, the Nobel prize came. Crick would move rapidly to become the preeminent figure in Molecular Biology. He was the leader in the attempt to crack the Genetic Code as well as being at the forefront, along with Watson, of formulating the theory of the "Central Dogma". In 1977 Crick moved to the Salk Institute to begin a new career in Neuroscience. Crick teamed with Christof Koch to work on the physical events associated with consciousness("neural correlates of consciousness"). Their model was based upon using the mammalian visual cortex and its connections as an approach to solve the problem. Crick's book on Neuroscience, "The Astonishing Hypothesis", was published in 1994.
This book has included provocative aspects of the lives of Crick and his wife Odile Crick(nee Speed). Also, numerous photographs and drawings,an excellent time-line and a touching letter to Crick's son Michael, in which he explains the DNA structure discovery, give the book a personal touch. Crick died while working on a manuscript in 2004.
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