DNA: The Secret of Life (association copy with signed letter)

NY: Knopf, 2023. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Association copy, inscribed on the title page in the Nobel Prize winner's small script: "For Eric and Tania Idle, from Jim Watson."  Eric Idle is the English actor, comedian, musician and writer best (and very hilariously) known as a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python. Laid in is a typed letter signed (TLS) on Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory stationary, roughly 4 x 7", dated July 2003. Conveying the book, it's addressed to Tania, Eric Idle's wife, and is seven sentences in all, perhaps most intriguingly: "Being, like you, on Paul Allen's super St. Petersburg weekend was a once in a lifetime experience." Sounds fun. It also mentions enclosing two short speeches but those are no longer present. Watson's first book The Double Helix (1968), telling the story of his and Crick's discovery of DNA, remains one of the most successful science memoirs of all time. Thirty five years late, DNA: The Secret Life, serves as layman's introduction and a longview: "Watson provides the general reader with clear explanations of molecular processes and emerging technologies. He shows us how DNA continues to alter our understanding of human origins, and of our identities as groups and as individuals." A fine book, quarto in blue cloth, color illustrations and photos throughout. In a near fine jacket  with a nifty, elegant hologram plate at center (as you shift your perspective, the image changes from a double helix to a bee foraging on flowers); it has a paper clip impression at the top of the rear panel. The letter is fine, once folded in three.