A Passion for DNA

This is an important collection of essays by one of the co-discoverers of DNA, and provides an interesting, though naturally partisan, commentary on biological advances over the last 50 years. We learn in an autobiographical section that Watson might have become an ornithologist but changed track in time. There is an interesting essay on Linus Pauling in the biographical section, which is followed by some pieces on recombinant DNA controversies. Then some essays on the ethos of science, the war on cancer, and a final topical section on societal implications of the Human Genome Project. He rightly attributes much of the opposition to the HGP as the most visible symbol of the evolutionary biology/genetics based approach to human existence which he himself supports. However, he does advocate that we proceed with much caution and humility, reminding us that a percentage of genetics research is often devoted to ethical and social questions.