Product Description

This lay history of molecular biology now contains material on some of the principal figures involved, particularly Rosalind Franklin and Erwin Chargaff. The foreword and epilogue sketch the further development of molecular biology into the era of recombinant DNA.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #513275 in Books
• Published on: 1996-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 714 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the foreword to The Eighth Day of Creation, the expanded edition of his 1979 masterpiece, Horace Freeland Judson says, "I feared I might seem the official historian of the movement"--molecular biology, that is. If by official he means "authoritative; definitive; the standard against which all others are measured" then his fears are warranted.

Detailed without being overly technical, humane without being fulsome, The Eighth Day of Creation tells of molecular biology's search for the secret of life. "The drama has everything--exploration of the unknown; low comedy and urgent seriousness; savage competition, vaulting intelligence, abrupt changes of fortune, sudden understandings; eccentric and brilliant people, men of honour and of less than honour; a heroine, perhaps wronged; and a treasure to be achieved that was unique and transcendent." And in Judson, this drama found its very own Shakespeare. --Christine Buttery

Customer Reviews

Reviews
From the front-page review in the New York Times Book Review: "The revelations of modern biology make a remarkable human and scientific story, and it has never been told better than in [this book]. Indeed, this is one of the best books of popular or semipopular science writing I have ever read.... What is equally good is how it is all put together. Mr. Judson lets the events unfold as they happened. We learn each man's view of the key moments that preceded the final illumination. We sense their doubts and frustration before their research clarified, and their exaltation [sic] when the truth finally burst forth.... What is especially fortunate is that he is a graceful writer with a keen sense of the human as well as the scientific drama.... I finished the book with a great sense of elation and a deepened sense of admiration for what the human family, at its best, can accomplish."

From a letter from Andre Lwoff, Nobel laureate, of the Institut Pasteur: "'The Eighth Day' is a unique and excellent history of molecular biology... I do not know of any other history of the erection of a scientific monument performed with such rigor and accuracy. Of course you were privileged in being able to interview all the main actors."