RNA: Life's Indispensable Molecule

by James E. Darnell

In RNA: Life's Indispensable Molecule, Jim Darnell provides a comprehensive and captivating account of RNA research, illuminated by his own life-long and celebrated engagement in the field. Darnell describes how scientists unraveled fundamental questions about the biochemical and genetic importance of RNA--how mRNAs are generated and used to produce proteins, how noncoding and catalytic RNAs mediate key cellular processes, and how RNA molecules likely initiated life on Earth. With a scope extending from the early 20th century to the present day, and with the clarity expected from an accomplished textbook author, he conveys the intellectual context in which these questions first arose and explains how the key experiments were structured and answers obtained. The book is geared towards scientists from the graduate level on up, and will particularly appeal to active investigators in RNA biology, educators of molecular biology and biochemistry, and science historians.

Genres: Biology, Science, Medicine, Evolution

416 pages, Hardcover

First published July 20, 2011

Reviews

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review from a non scientist. This is an extremely in depth history of the evolution of our understanding of RNA biology. It it not for the faint of heart and I grasped less than 20% of it and almost none of the experiments. In particular I struggled to follow the figures which are not explained. If you are not an extremely enthusiastic person with a bit of college level science I may skip this one. Glad I read it, but I retained very very little with my level of knowledge. I would think this would be wonderful for a graduate student however. It reads much closer to a giant review article than a normal book.