A passion for DNA : genes, genomes, and society / James D. Watson ; introduction, afterword, and annotations by Walter Gratzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Watson, James D., 1928-2025.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Genetics--Social aspects.

Genetics.

Molecular genetics.

Science and civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Jim Watson is one of the world's most famous scientists. A principal architect and visionary of modern biology, a Nobel Prize winner at 34, and best selling author at 40 (The Double Helix), he has been a fearless commentator on the march of DNA science and its impact on society for over twenty years. This sparkling collection was a bestseller in hardcover, and, for the paperback edition, the author has added three newly written essays containing his reflections on the survival value of pursuing happiness, advice for new college graduates, and his thoughts on the completion of a draft of the human genome, a project he initiated over ten years ago.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Sources of the Essays

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Autobiographical Flights

Values from a Chicago Upbringing

Growing Up in the Phage Group

Minds That Live for Science

Early Speculations and Facts about RNA Templates

Bragg's Foreword to The Double Helix

Biographies: Luria, Hershey, and Pauling

Recombinant DNA Controversies

In Further Defense of DNA

Standing Up for Recombinant DNA

The Nobelist versus the Film Star

The DNA Biohazard Canard

Ethos of Science

Moving Toward the Clonal Man: Is This What We Want?

The Dissemination of Unpublished Information

Science and the American Scene

The Necessity for Some Academic Aloofness

Striving for Excellence

Succeeding in Science: Some Rules of Thumb

Rules for Graduates

War on Cancer

The Academic Community and Cancer Research

Maintaining High-Quality Cancer Research in a Zero- Sum Era

The Science for Beating Down Cancer

Societal Implications of the Human Genome Project

Moving on to Human DNA

Ethical Implications of the Human Genome Project

Genes and Politics

Five Days in Berlin

Good Gene, Bad Gene: What Is the Right Way to Fight the Tragedy of Genetic Disease?

Viewpoint: All for the GoodÛ Why Genetic Engineering Must Soldier On

The Pursuit of Happiness

The Human Genome Revealed

Afterword: Envoi-DNA, Peace, and Laughter

About the Authors

Name Index

Subject Index.

Notes:

"With three new essays by the author."

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0-87969-664-8

OCLC:

614616773