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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
"His Crick is radical in science and conservative in temperament; deeply irreligious yet moved by poetry; a philanderer who adored his wife."
"The result is a richly detailed picture of a brilliant and innovative, if flawed, man."
"His Crick was both the consummate insider and a scientific outlier."
"Matthew Cobb's erudite and exciting new book will almost certainly become the definitive biography of Francis Crick, and deserves a wide readership ..."
"This is perhaps fair reciprocation for the fact that, soon after a conference in which he suggested putting a chemical in food to render people sterile (then giving the antidote only to those considered to be worthy breeders), Crick decided to cease making public statements about political questions."
"A knowledgeable but bloated biography of one of the biggest names in science."
"Cobb aims for the tricky 'middle path': a life vivid enough to engage readers who haven't thought about the double helix since high school, and detailed enough to satisfy the scientists ..."
"In his new biography of the Nobel prize-winning scientist, Matthew Cobb, emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Manchester, does an admirable job of capturing the rare thinker who not only set himself such ambitious goals but made remarkable progress in achieving them, radically remaking two scientific disciplines in the process ..."
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