Genes, Girls, and Gamow: After the Double Helix by Watson, James D - 2001

Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A.: Alfred a Knopf Inc - A Borzoi Book, 2001. 259 Pages plus 45 pages of George Gamow memorabilia, illustration credits, and A Note About the Author. Light tan boards with light blue quarter spine and red spine lettering. No bumped corners marks or stamps. Dust jacket price $26.00 is unclipped. The chase for the double-helical structure of DNA was an adventure story in the best sense. First. there was a pot of scientific gold to be found-possibly very soon. Second, among the explorers who raced to find it, there was much bravado, unexpected lapses of reason. and painful acceptances of the fates not going well. The early 1950s were not times to be cautious but rather to run fast whenever a path opened up --- nuggets of gold might be lying exposed over the next hill. As one of the winners. with a fortune much,much bigger than I ever dared hope for, I could not stop moving. There was more genetic loot to be located, and not joining in the further hunt would make me feel old --- from THE Preface. Immediately following the revolutionary discovery of the structure of DNA by James D. Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. the world of molecular biology was caught up in a gold rush. The goal: to uncover the secrets of life that the newly elucidated molecule promised to reveal. Genes, Girls, and Gamow is James Watson's report on the amazing aftermath of the DNA breakthrough, picking up where his now classic memoir, The Double Helix, leaves off. Here are the collaborations and collisions of giants, not only Watson and Crick themselves, but also legions of others, including Linus Pauling (the greatest chemist of the day), Richard Feynman (the bongo-playing cynosure of CaltechL and especially George Gamow, the bearlike, whiskey-wielding Russian physicist. who had turned his formidable intellect to the field of genetics--- with Gamow --- an irrepressible prankster to boot --- Watson would found the legendary RNA Tie Club. But Watson -- -at twenty-five already the winner of genetic research's greatest jackpot --- is obsessed with another goal as well: to find love, and a wife equal to his unexpected fame. Forty-three illustrations and 22 letters. Eleven page alphabetical listing of Cast of Character. First American Edition Stated. Hard Back. As New/Very Good. Illus. by Wilson, Gabriele - Dust Jacket. 6" x 9 1/2".