Fifty years ago,
James D. Watson, then just twenty-four, helped launch
the greatest ongoing scientific quest of our time. Now,
with unique authority and sweeping vision, he gives
us the first full account of the genetic revolution—from
Mendel’s garden to the double helix to the sequencing
of the human genome and beyond.
Watson’s lively, panoramic narrative begins with
the fanciful speculations of the ancients as to why
“like begets like” before skipping ahead
to 1866, when an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel first
deduced the basic laws of inheritance.
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. And with
the insight of one who has remained close to every advance
in research since the double helix, he reveals how genetics
has unleashed a wealth of possibilities to alter the
human condition—from genetically modified foods
to genetically modified babies—and transformed
itself from a domain of pure research into one of big
business as well.
