The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science

Description

From the chemistry of gold to the failures of funding, from chaos in the heavens to the fight against creationism, from optical illusions in tartan to the mathematics of elections, featuring interviews with playwrights, poets, and film directors, together with plenty on the double helix itself (not to speak of the odd nod to the author's own speciality, the snail Helix and its relatives), Steve Jones presents a miscellany of science. In a hundred brief pieces he shows - in the phrase which lost him his first chance at an academic post - the extraordinary breadth, matched with profound shallowness, of his scientific knowledge. THE SINGLE HELIX is a scientist's look at sciences other than his own: and as such is accessible to anyone with an interest in the world around them.

Professor of Genetics at University College London, Steve Jones gave the Reith Lectures in 1991 and presented a TV series on human genetics and evolution. A columnist for the DAILY TELEGRAPH, he frequently appears on radio and TV.

'One of the most engaging and revealing portraits of science and its practitioners you'll ever read' DAILY EXPRESS 'Delightful compilation of 100 easy pieces ... One of the world's best writer-scientists ... Jones is the Alan Bennett of science' FINA