Rating: 
Summary: The double helix.
Review: The earlier chapters are somewhat disorganized, but understandably so perhaps: Watson is not exactly a writer. "The Double Helix" is a fascinating tale about how DNA structure was discovered and understood in detail. It is written in novel form, like a biography - which adds a little more humanity and simplicity to it all. Therefore, anyone can read it.
As you get to the middle, it gets quite involved as Watson narrates the ups and downs that he and Crick (and others) encountered. He also writes about the jealousies, tensions, and hardships in science research. He describes his partner, Francis, as a constant talker - almost obnoxious. I found the way Watson described Rosalind Franklin a little unsettling. It seems that he just casts her off as a choleric woman having a hard time in a men's world of science and research. It's clear that he doesn't give her the recognition she deserves. I doubt that Watson and Crick would have solved the structure of DNA without Rose's hard work in crystallography and x-rays.
On another note however, it's good that Watson wrote this book when events were still fresh in his mind, as he claims. As for DNA itself...people shall keep on making more and more discoveries a thousand years from now. Watson and Crick (and others) just helped hurl things up to the horizon. Discoveries on DNA, chromosomes, genes, etc. shall continue to unprecedented heights. And who knows what else is out there that we don't know?
I almost gave it 4 stars, but truth be told: my mind was less than piqued by Watson's writing style. And maybe if he showed the tiniest bit of respect for Ms. Franklin, her contributions, and her hard work.
Rating:
Summary: HISTORICAL MEMOIR WITH UNINTENDED LESSONS
Review: Years ago when I first read James Watson's folksy book on his co-discovery I thought, "my how far an ambitious ornithologist can fly." But I saluted Watson's seemingly unvarnished candor then, and years later I can still manage a sloppy salute. Watson's account discusses the various intrigues such as with Peter, Linus Pauling's son; and some downright espionage leading to the important discovery with Crick [and a phantom Rosalind Franklin] that a double helix is naturally assumed by pairs of DNA. Misogyny seems to lurk behind every condescension towards women and womanhood liberally expressed by Watson. One wonders whether absent his shared Nobel Prize, Watson would get away with it. In all probability, had Pauling reported the double helix first thus collecting his third Nobel Prize (!) and Watson was just another chronicler of DNA's lab history the scientific community would not be so tolerant towards a man who remains nearly pathologically dismissive of women in science. Alas, Alfred Nobel didn't stipulate good manners as a condition for awarding the prize bearing his name. Be that as it may, the now classical memoir by a co-discoverer of the double helix has merit for its place in time and should be read by students and other citizens. What it lacks as a primer of ethics it makes up for in its quasi-truthfulness. The Double Helix contains pedestrian writing that describes a great event. DNA is spectacular. The book about its discovery is merely fair.
Rating: 
Summary: Rotten little cheats and liars don't deserve the Nobel prize
Review: You won't find the truth about the quest to the discovery of DNA from reading Watson's self serving "memoir". He totally distorts the role played by Rosalind Franklin of Kings College, and fails to disclose the central role that her work served in deciphering the double helix. This is one of the greatest disgraces in the history of science, and completely casts a pall upon any credit to which Watson & Crick might lay claim. Had they honored the brilliant contribution of this great scientist, Rosalind Franklin, they could hold their heads high and take great pride in the role that they played in the discovery of DNA. But the fact that they basically stole all the credit, left her out of the picture when telling the story, and distorted, and lied about their dependence on the remarkable work of Rosalind Franklin, turns them into a couple of cheap confidence men, lying and cheating their way to a reputation and a career that would never have been possible it not been for Rosalind.
If you want to know the true story, go elsewhere. Watsons claims are far from the truth of the matter.
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