A Passion for DNA: Genes, Genomes, and Society

by Watson, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780879695811
• ISBN10: 0879695811
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Summary

A principal architect and visionary of the new biology, a Nobel Prize-winner at 34 and best-selling author at 40 (The Double Helix), James D. Watson had the authority, flair, and courage to take an early and prominent role as commentator on the march of DNA science and its implications for society. In essays for publications large and small, and in lectures around the world, he delivered what were, in effect, dispatches from the front lines of the revolution. Outspoken and sparkling with ideas and opinions, a selection of them is collected for the first time in this volume. Their resonance with today's headlines is striking.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
Autobiographical Flights
Values from a Chicago Upbringing	3	(4)
Growing Up in the Phage Group	7	(10)
Minds That Live for Science	17	(6)
Early Speculations and Facts about RNA Templates	23	(10)
Bragg's Foreword to The Double Helix	33	(4)
Biographies: Luria, Hershey, and Pauling	37	(12)
Recombinant DNA Controversies
In Further Defense of DNA	49	(12)
Standing Up for Recombinant DNA	61	(10)
The Nobelist Versus the Film Star	71	(4)
The DNA Biochemical Canard	75	(8)
Ethos of Science
Moving Toward the Clonal Man: Is This What We Want?	83	(8)
The Dissemination of Unpublished Information	91	(14)
Science and the American Scene	105	(4)
The Necessity for Some Academic Aloofness	109	(8)
Striving for Excellence	117	(6)
Succeeding in Science Some Rules of Thumb	123	(6)
War on Cancer
The Academic Community and Cancer Research	129	(10)
Maintaining High-Quality Cancer Research in a Zero-Sum Era	139	(8)
The Science for Beating Down Cancer	147	(16)
Societal Implications of the Human Genome Project
Moving on to Human DNA	163	(6)
Ethical Implications of the Human Genome Project	169	(10)
Genes and Politics	179	(30)
Five Days in Berlin	209	(14)
Good Gene, Bad Gene: What is the Right Way to Fight the Tragedy of Genetic Disease?	223	(4)
Viewpoint: All for the Good---Why Genetic Engineering Must Soldier On	227	(12)
Afterword: Envoi---DNA, Peace, and Laughter	231	(8)
Name Index	239	(6)
Subject Index	245