Gene Machine
The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome
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4.3 • 18 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
A Nobel Prize–winning biologist’s “engaging and witty” (Forbes) memoir tells the riveting story of his race to discover the inner workings of biology’s most important molecule
Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome—an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms—that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the ribosome’s structure, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases. But this is also a human story of Ramakrishnan’s unlikely journey, from his first fumbling lab experiments to his fierce competition with some of the world’s best scientists.
Gene Machine is a frank insider’s account of the pursuit of high-stakes science.
Customer Reviews
Interesting but difficult read
I picked up this book hoping it would read like those of the authors whose praises covered the front ( Richard Dawkins and Siddhartha Mukherjee). It is an extremely interesting book that gives insight into the incredibly complex ribosome and the race that took place to uncover its structure. However, it may be somewhat difficult to follow for someone with limited background knowledge, like myself. However it is very inspiring to read about the tireless effort everyone involved went through to make the discoveries that awarded them the Nobel Prize.