This is a good read after you've read 'The Double Helix', because it's what Francis Crick did next.

It's a completely different approach to the Double Helix (which reads more like a thriller). This is a good insight in to all the major DNA discoveries that happened folliwing the discovery of the DNA structure. Crick treats the subject seriously, and explains a lot of major advances very well. More technically demanding than The Double Helix, but not overly complex for anyone who is willing to put a bit of effort in.

I'm planning to read it a second time, as it covers quite a lot of ground. It's a very good book at explaining how clever some of these DNA experiments were in their approach.

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SinSin

Excellent

Rezension aus Kanada am 16. August 2018

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Excellent

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P. B. Sharp

Interesting and provocative

Rezension aus den Vereinigten Staaten vom 20. August 2013

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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.

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anonymous

Do yourself a favor, pick up What Mad Pursuit

Rezension aus den Vereinigten Staaten vom 22. September 2013

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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 Gödel, 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.

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bluejohn

An unexpectedly dramatic account

Rezension aus dem Vereinigten Königreich vom 18. Juni 2010

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A very rewarding read. This book is surprisingly interesting - easy to read but quite deep in parts. All of us with an interest in science have heard of Watson and Crick. I didn't expect Francis Crick's book to be such smooth reading for an interested amateur, nor did I expect the occasional flashes of insight that reveal glimpses of deep truths about the workings of biology - something to follow up elsewhere.

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What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery Gebundene Ausgabe – 30. März 1989

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Francis Crick

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