Portions of this book were first published in The Atlantic monthly.

By identifying the structure of DNA, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won a Nobel Prize. All the time Watson was only twenty-four, a young zoologist hungry to make his mark. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against other world-class researchers to solve one of sciences' greatest unsolved mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a world of scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries. With humility unspoiled by false modesty, Watson relates his and Crick's desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the identification of the basic building block of life.

Crick and Watson, along the backs -- Francis in the Cavendish -- Maurice Wilkins world wide photos -- Microbial genetics meeting, Copenhagen, March 1951 -- Linus Pauling; Information Office, California Institute of Technology -- Sir Lawrence Bragg -- Rosalind Franklin -- X-ray diffraction photograph of DNA, a form -- Elizabeth Watson -- In Paris, spring 1952 -- Meeting at Royaumont, July 1952 -- In the Italian Alps, August 1952 -- Early ideas on the DNA-RNA-protein relation -- X-ray diffraction photograph of DNA, B form -- Original model of the double helix -- Watson and Crick in front of the model -- Morning coffee in the Cavendish -- Letter to Max Delbruck -- In Stockholm, December 1962.

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