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Unravelling the Double Helix
- The Lost Heroes of DNA
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Professionals & Academics
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Summary
Unravelling the Double Helix covers the most colourful period in the history of DNA, from the discovery of 'nuclein' in the late 1860s to the publication of Watson's The Double Helix in 1968.
This is a saga packed with awful mistakes as well as brilliant science, with a wonderful cast of heroes and villains. Surprisingly, much of it is unfamiliar because the early history is largely neglected by books which focus on the episode of the double helix.
The elucidation of the double helix was one of the most brilliant gems of 20th-century science, but Gareth Williams shows that to ignore everything that went before is as irrational as prising the biggest diamond out of the Coronation Sceptre and turning your back on the rest of the Crown Jewels.
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What listeners say about Unravelling the Double Helix
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DR ALUN GRIFFITH
- 17-12-19
Keeps you gripped from start to finish
A great job of engaging you with the personalities that shaped the history of DNA alongside the skilful funnelling of all the scientific strands together to the monumental publication in 1953.
I finished the book with a clear picture of the final DNA story and some of the key opportunities missed. The epilogue was a relaxing way to complete the book and put some of the history in context.
I listened to the book over a period of a few months, so few mini-summaries would have been helpful but it was enjoyable to re-listen to a previous chapter or two.
Fantastic read, thoroughly deserves a five star rating.
1 person found this helpful
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- Seayeaitch
- 19-05-19
Enthralling.
To those people, like me, that have a meagre understanding of the Double Helix, this story, the result of much research opened a huge spectre of greater understanding. Gareth Williams has crafted a masterpiece and on a personal basis opened up a world of interest that I was previous unaware of..Matt Addis narration is perfect and brings this incredible story to life. This now ranks as a story that has genuinely changed my perspective.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 25-09-21
One of my best audio books
A great story that combines many intertwined biographies put in context of history and science. Everybody who has read Watson's book must read this one.