Genes, Girls, and Gamow: After the Double Helix

by James D. Watson

In the years following his and Francis Crick’s towering discovery of DNA, James Watson was obsessed with finding two things: RNA and a wife. Genes, Girls, and Gamow is the marvelous chronicle of those pursuits. Watson effortlessly glides between his heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious debacles in the field of love and his heady inquiries in the field of science. He also reflects with touching candor on some of science’s other titans, from fellow Nobelists Linus Pauling and the incorrigible Richard Feynman to Russian physicist George Gamow, who loved whiskey, limericks, and card tricks as much as he did molecules and genes. What emerges is a refreshingly human portrait of a group of geniuses and a candid, often surprising account of how science is done.

Genres: Science, Biology, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction, Stem, Genetics

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

In 1928, James D. Watson was born in Chicago. Watson, who co-discovered the double helix structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) at age 25, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. His bird-watching hobby prompted his interest in genetics. He earned his B.Sc. degree in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1947, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1950. He worked with Wilkins and Francis Crick at Cavendish Laboratory in England in 1951-1953, when they discovered the structure of DNA. Watson became a member of the Harvard Biology Department in 1956, then a full professor in 1961. His book The Double Helix, which was published in 1968, became a bestseller. Watson was appointed director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island in 1968, and became its president in 1994. As director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH in 1989, Watson launched the worldwide campaign to map and sequence the human genome. Watson was an outspoken unbeliever who considered that human progress had been shackled by the idea of divine fate, and that human beings should do their utmost to improve the future. In a Youngstown State University speech, Watson said, "The biggest advantage to believing in God is you don't have to understand anything, no physics, no biology. I wanted to understand" (The Vindicator, Dec. 2, 2003).

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wa...

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pa...

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://www.dnaftb.org/19/bio.html

Reviews

[Robb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did you know that James Watson had a sore throat on a Thursday in 1953? He also had a sore throat several other times in the 50s.

Did you know that he found the checkout girl, a local waitress, and several of his undergrad students attractive? He didn't do anything about it, but he's relatively sure they were totally into him.

Did you know the intense personal details of his fringe acquaintances marriages falling apart? If not - those seem to be the one thing he goes into detail about in this book.

Yes, you can learn all that and more, here in the equivalent of reading 3 years of a friend's Facebook feed - the most self-absorbed and unknowingly rude and insensitive friend you've ever had!

There's very little about the search for RNA in here, and really not much about girls other than "I thought she might have liked me" about several of his friends' wives. He tells us about finding his wife in the last paragraph - and spends the rest of the time berating every girl too dumb to realize he should be slept with and prized. And that's..literally all "I came across a girl on the boat from England to America. We talked about the weather. I thought she might be interested, but then I didn't see her again. In truth, she was probably a bit bland for my tastes, not up to intellectual conversation. So, I was name-dropping some people - let me get back to that part."

Over. and over. With no greater context.

Whoever wrote the back cover deserves a bonus - they tricked me into thinking I'd found a challenging book from which I could learn fascinating things about genetics and how scientists are people just like us! Imagine!

I guess the second half was attained, as I learned that some famous scientists are socially repugnant. But geeze, I wish I didn't read a book just to teach me that.

I'm sorry, I've never given a book a 1 before, I'm just hoping to ward off anyone who might also be tricked by the back cover. The book is completely and utterly painful.

It's so, so bad.

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, please don't say anything at all. I'm sure The Double Helix was a very important book but I no longer have any desire to read it. Unless I missed something, Watson seems to have chosen the 3 least exciting years of his entire life to chronicle. It reads like a teenage boy writing about girls censored by that same teenager's 80-year-old self. As for the science, I didn't learn anything. Maybe it was interesting to someone who already understood some of this stuff but I doubt it. Sorry Duv, this one wasn't for me.

[Rose Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are all true geniuses such self-absorbed, self-referential assholes? Even though I was entertained by his (really well-written) memoir, I did shake my head over his disdain for "ordinary" humans, and for women who did not measure up to his standard of beauty. Also, he seemed to feel that every woman he encountered secretly yearned for him. Hello?

[Caroline Weber · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of the book is perhaps its own best summary.

Reads like his diary for the period covered by the book.

Name-dropper, self-promoter, the book ends when he finally finds someone to marry him: a 19-year-old working in his lab at Harvard, when he was 39 or 40...They are still married though, so, it was a good match?

I imagine "The Double Helix" is more interesting, but I have no plans to find it and read it.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would much rather give this book 2.5 stars. It starts off well, but drags a lot. And becomes way too many anecdotes that aren't really interesting. Also, it is pretty gossipy, which amusing at first, gets old. I wish it had 50 pages shorter.

[Luke Illeniram · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is not often I dislike a book so much - and it receives its two stars based off the odd decent witty sentence, and the little description of the science he is famous for and the people that made it happen - I found the discussion of the others involved in the double helix discovery interesting. But thats about where it stops. Watson seems like an insufferable prick. In fact, so do most of the characters. And boy oh boy, characters there are. Watson seems unable to get through a sentence without dropping the name of yet another eminent scientist from the times. This gets old pretty quick - especially when every anecdote is essentially the same - 1) meet with x, 2) dine with x, 3) gossip about x, 4) mention attractice girl (usually like 16 years old), 5) nothing happens, 6) repeat process.

Dont bother. I found this in one of those public mini library boxes - its going straight back there.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Erinnerungen eines Genies - wie es in der deutschen Version heißt. Meine Bewertung mag etwas ungerecht sein, aber mir waren das zu viele Gene und Girls und zu wenig Gamow. Immerhin lerne ich, dass Doris Lessing einen "natürlichen, voll entwickelten Sex-Appeal" besaß.
Die dann tatsächliche Gattin wird im erst Epilog errungen. (Ebenso wie der Nobelpreis.) Und die Gattin gleicht übrigens 30 Jahre später immer noch "einem süßen Pfirsich".
Die Doppelhelix zu lesen reicht völlig.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice writing style. Very informative. Very detailed. Could not finish.

[Jahangir Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

truly amazing and entertaining story of post-DNA era of romantic Mr. Watson. Hilarious

[Manolis Politis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of value only for the fans of Watson and the other epic figures of the revolution of the molecular biology

[NF2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did we really need this?

OK he's renowned and hung out with famous scientists, but it's sparing on interesting anecdotes, and gone is the lyricaĺ breeziness of his first memoir

[Temnospondyli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It may be impossible from now on to review any book by James Watson without at least mentioning the looming shadow of the recent Jan. 2019 PBS American Masters hit piece about him, in much the same way as one cannot discuss Thomas Jefferson without mentioning slavery and Sally Hemings. My intent is not to apologize or make excuses for his comments on race, only to review this 2002 book written by someone born 90 years ago who recognized his flaws, admitted to them openly, and is apparently powerless to change them even when noting they are irrational. The controversy does not alter his importance in the world of science, nor should it. It does serve, however, as a reminder that we are all human, we all have flaws, we all have biased notions and beliefs that may leave us morally stranded as society and social conventions march ever onward.

This book is very clear about it's subject matter. The title, Genes, Girls, and Gamow tells you exactly what it will be about: Watson and co. and their continued researches into genes, in this case focused on RNA, the feeble attempts at dating and finding love as a still youngish scientist, and the influence of another scientific giant, George Gamow, who seems to act as a sort of crazy inspirational scientific muse for Watson and his fellow scientists found within these pages. Beginning roughly following the mad scramble to uncover the structure of DNA in 1953, this book shares with the readers the ups and downs in science and in social life that Watson experienced at a time when the casual reader such as myself might have thought he would have had a life of champagne and roses. What I did not expect was the level of frustration, the repeated failures to make much headway with RNA for a decade, the constant bouncing around from institution to institution, and the rather pathetic loneliness Watson actually experienced. This book contains far less bravado and far more humility and human emotion than I would have expected having read the Double Helix and Avoid Boring People. This adds, for me, a bit of interest to the story, and true to being "Honest Jim", I was frequently surprised at some of the things he shared, notably his sad puppy dog situation, whimpering after Christa Mayr.

If I were to be honest, and to "Honest Jim" I feel it only fair, the book is far from his best. I enjoy his work most when he is explaining his science, and here there is far too little science. One feels as if science is just a minor character, only appearing about 100 pages in. What there is, is a lot of socializing, a lot of names, and a lot of things said that seem to be more like insider baseball, comprehensible only to those who were there and knew the people and the backstories. I felt bogged down by the enormous cast of characters and frequently bored by the stories that seemed to go nowhere. I enjoyed the inclusion of the George Gamow Memorabilia, as I always enjoy seeing primary historical documents, but found it frustrating that they appear at the end of the book rather than in the relevant text, and wow, does Gamow have some, shall we say, interesting handwriting!

Overall, is this a great book? No. Is it important if you are interested in molecular biology and the history of the field? Yes, to a point. Is it worth reading if you are fascinated by Watson, Crick, & Co.? Absolutely, but understand that it only fleshes out some little bit of his life and researches post-DNA, and should only be read as a companion to other books by and about Watson and his co-discoverers and co-founders of this field.

[Aileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The man. The scientist. The scandal. This is basically an essay of James D. Watson about the months and years after the presentation of his masterpiece. He is quiet to mention all the other people who helped him discover the double helix and is that ever remaining self centered scientist, who appears to not care about genuine human connection, enough to assume many of his crushes through the years were crazy for him, without ever presenting them with some sort of interest. It is all together a diary of Watson's day life and scientific, methodical mind.

[David Meyer]

I really loved reading this book. Watson did a great job mixing the importance of the science involved with the humor and interest of the lives of the scientists involved. I was happily surprised at how many famous scientists were mentioned in the book and how interesting the relationships between them were.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

I forgot how insufferable James Watson and/or his writing style are. Sheesh.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly entertaining and tawdry. I thought it was a much better read than "The Double Helix" if only because Dr. Watson comes off less arrogant in this book.

[Jishnu Bhattacharya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started off very well. Interesting anecdotes, stories about the top research institutes and top scientists. However, it got rather boring and repetitive midway.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

falls short of The Double Helix but good follow-up

[Marko]

I have the german edition.