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The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science
 
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The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science (Hardcover)

by Steve Jones (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown (3 Nov 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316731935
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316731935
  • Product Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 132,243 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
'Delightful compilation of 100 easy pieces . . . one of the world's best writer-scientists . . . Jones is the Alan Bennett of science' - Financial Times 'Jones once again shows that, for all its difficulties, science can still be fun' - Independent 'One of the most engaging and revealing portraits of science and its practitioners you'll ever read' - Daily Express 'Wonderful examples of scientific storytelling . . . Simply fascinating' - Simon Singh, Sunday Telegraph 'Short essays ranging from astrophysics to anthropology . . . Perfect for anyone after occasional food for thought' - New Scientist

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'Jones once again shows that, for all its difficulties, science can still be fun'

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The bad news and the good news, 4 Nov 2006
By Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science (Paperback)
The bad news is that this book deals with such a wide and varied set of topics, that it's impossible to categorise it. The good news is that Jones presents each subject so well and with such enthusiasm that it's a delightful read. You may read it front to back, the reverse, or purely at random. Such is the nature of a book of selected essays on the wonders of nature and the methods of studying them. Sifting through his columns in Britain's "Daily Telegraph" to select merely a hundred must have been a daunting task, but Jones managed it admirably. As the publisher's blurb declaims, it's "a hundred easy pieces about science". They fail to mention each one is a treat to encounter.

Jones has a string of excellent books to his credit: "Almost Like A Whale" ["Darwin's Ghost" in the US] and "Y-The Descent of Men" being among the better known. He knows how to write to an informed and interested audience. He's so good at it that he's won a medal for "increasing public knowledge of science". The title derives from his work on snails and the notoriety gained by James Watson's account of the revelation of DNA's structure. Although Jones' own field is biology, he's able to venture into other disciplines in this collection. Even history is probed for unusual information - the "Telemobiloskop" is certain to gain your attention at the next cocktail party. For a biologist - and a malacologist at that, it might seem out of place for Jones to dabble in astrophysics or physics itself, yet he manages it with panache. In today's world, however, genetics plays too significant a role to be passed over lightly, and Jones provides several excellent items on the topic.

Applying a sense of irony and humour throughout these pages, Jones easily dispels the image of the dour scientist. He's not above examining his own mistakes, even while depicting critics as "vultures drawn to carrion". Nobody "peer reviews" books on science aimed at the general public, and things slip by. His discussion of errors he made in "Almost Like a Whale" is accompanied by his views on evolutionary psychology. In the process, he reminds us that we're a social species, and must tread lightly in making generalisations about how that situation is manifested in science writing. It would have been nice if Jones had avoided the lure one scientist-essayist fell prey to. Instead of baseball, however, at one point Jones deals with the national sport of his own. The axes he has to grind are kept strictly associated with science. A highly readable, entertaining and useful book.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, 26 Dec 2005
The single helix is hard to put down and often very funny. Each chapter is a brief article of only 3 pages. The book’s theme is to have no fixed subject. It dips into a wide range of subjects shining a brief, but very illuminating, light on each.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Single helix, 15 Jul 2007
By Spider Monkey (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This is a strangely dissatisfying read, which is a real shame as Jones is an excellent author and i've enjoyed many of his other books. The problem with this book is that each essay is adapted from his newspaper column and therefore the topics are varied, but are not explored in any real depth. You find yourself just getting interested and the essay has finished. Also, each essay is very aimless, the facts that make it up are fascinating and leave you marveling at nature and the wonder of science, but they don't lead anywhere and very few essays seems to make a worthy/satisfactory point. All of this is a real shame, as this book is written in Jones usual clear and entertaining style, but I'd say this is a book for popular science beginners and not one for those who have read and enjoyed past Jones books, or other popular science books. A great premise, but it could've delivered so much more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars So - so
The idea of simply collecting and transferring Steve Jones' newspaper column into a book doesn't work and is pretty lazy. Read more
Published 16 months ago by C. A. Gallagher

3.0 out of 5 stars could do better
I was disappointed with this collection of reprinted articles. One of the themes that runs through the book is that artists, writers, printers, TV shows etc regularly misinterpret... Read more
Published 17 months ago by J. Crawford

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but Marred by Inaccuracies
This book should be seen as opinions rather than facts. While it does present many concepts in digestible 3 page format for the layman, the author is tripped up by his own... Read more
Published 22 months ago by S. Hartwell

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