January book reviews (4-6): Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code by Matt Ridley

Not the also-ran sidekick of James Watson

There’s 2 books left of the January books, but one of them were not that noteworthy in the literal sense that I didn’t take any interesting notes while reading them. So here I’m covering the Francis Crick biography by Matt Ridley (Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code).

Why read a biography of Francis Crick? Well a few reasons. First, I read a lot of biographies of eminent scientists, partly for inspiration, partly for curiosity. Second, it was another book by Matt Ridley, whose other works I liked (cf. prior post on Innovation). Third, Crick is often overlooked in recent years because he died too soon (2004) for his hereditarian views to get him cancelled like they did James Watson (twice, in 2007 and 2019). This book covers his life in science and interspaced with personal matters in typical chronological fashion. Since Watson stole the headlights, one gets the impression that Crick was an also-ran in science. But this isn’t really the case. Watson was the one-trick pony, Crick kept making advances throughout the years.