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Crick: A Mind in Motion
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About This Book
A major new biography of Francis Crick, codiscoverer of the structure of DNA, pioneering neuroscientist, and twentieth-century genius What are the moments that make a life? In Francis Crick's, the decisive moment came in 1951, when he first met James Watson. Their ensuing discovery of the structure of DNA made Crick world-famous. But neither that chance meeting nor that discovery made Crick who he was. As Matthew Cobb shows in Crick, it is another chance encounter, with a line from the writing of Beat poet Michael McClure, that reveals Crick's "THIS IS THE POWERFUL KNOWLEDGE," it shouted. Crick, having read it, would keep it with him for the rest of his life, a token of his desire to solve the riddles of existence. John Keats once accused scientists of merely wanting to "unweave a rainbow," but it was an irrepressible, Romantic urge to wonder that defined Crick, as much as a desire to find the basis of life in DNA and the workings of our minds. For the first time ever, Cobb presents the full portrait of Crick, a scientist and a his triumphs and failings, insights and oversights. Crick set out to find the powerful knowledge. Almost miraculously, he did.
Reviews
"Crick was living a colorful personal life."
"And yes, he may also represent something that may now be lost: the era when a single intellect could sit at the centre of a scientific revolution."
"Yields some new information while challenging current perceptions ..."
"There is no dispute that Crick had a first-rate mind, but Cobb could have strengthened his analysis of the legacy ..."
"As a full-throated admirer of Crick's 'galaxy brain,' he tends to gloss over the hard bits having to do with his subject's less admirable moments ..."
"The result is a richly detailed picture of a brilliant and innovative, if flawed, man."
"A knowledgeable but bloated biography of one of the biggest names in science."
"Cobb sets himself an ambitious task in trying to do justice to both Crick's prolific scientific career and his colourful personal life, and this biography is an impressive work of research and scholarship."
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