Word: watsons
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...Watson begins his tale in the aftermath of his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. “The story starts when I was an unmarried 25-year-old and thought more about girls than genes. It is as much a tale of love as of ideas.” Quite an understatement there. Watson reports that there was “only one secretary to stare at” at the coffeehouse on the Caltech campus, that Pasadena “had the highest concentration of women over 60 than any other American city,” that...
...Watson chronicles virtually every meeting with Christa from June 1953 to December 1955. His description of the 17-year-old Christa as a “full-bodied woman, no longer the gangly child of earlier memories” betrays his fascination with nubile youth. Watson reports that “her face and voice made butterflies rumble through [his] stomach,” but such attempts at poetic description usually fall short. Their formal relationship begins in August 1954: “After a long walk down and back the country road beside their house, we started kissing...
...genes” portion of the title refers to Watson’s search to understand the role of RNA in the transfer of genetic information from DNA to protein. Little background scientific knowledge is necessary: Watson essentially spoon-feeds all relevant information and intersperses these chunks with the arguably more engaging details of his personal life. A helpful “cast of characters” section at the beginning of the book allows the reader to keep track of the many names Watson strews throughout his narrative...
George Gamow, a prominent theoretical physicist, is one recurring figure in the story. Watson describes him as a “six-foot, six-inch giant” who “defied conventional description with his penchant for tricks that masked a mind that always thought big.” With Gamow, Watson founded the RNA Tie Club, a group of twenty scientists—one for each amino acid—who sought to understand the purpose of RNA. Watson’s descriptions of many of these scientists often zero in on their idiosyncracies and help personalize...
...pitched squeal” which “did not go with his generous bulk.” The Biological Labs of Harvard “reeked of ’30s mustiness,” and Linus Pauling is “a popelike figure.” Watson evidently delights in gossip. He almost gleefully describes Peter Pauling’s predicament after an amorous episode results in a pregnancy, and then a marriage, asking “Would he have ever willingly committed himself to a monogamous institution that he was inherently unsuited...