What Mad Pursuit

Blurb

What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery is a book published in 1988 and written by Francis Crick, the English co-discoverer in 1953 of the structure of DNA, perhaps the greatest discovery ever made in molecular biology. In this book, Crick gives important insights into his work on the DNA structure, along with the Central Dogma of molecular biology and the genetic code, and his later work on neuroscience.
The main purpose of Crick's book is to describe some of his experiences before and during the "classical period" of molecular biology from the 1953 discovery of the DNA double helix to the 1966 elucidation of the genetic code. There is a prologue outlining Crick's upbringing, education, and war work on magnetic and acoustic mines, and following World War II his decision on what branch of science to study, using the "gossip test". There is also an epilogue that outlines Crick's work after 1966, his move to the Salk Institute with his career transition to neuroscience concentrating on visual consciousness in primates, and some of his conclusions regarding research in theoretical biology, especially with regard to the brain sciences.