Way too many unnecessary details which makes it very hard (or very easy if you skip them) to read. He listed all of the people who he has been met but didn't provide too much stories for them - boring.
Though I still can see some wisdoms of him and I'm kind of like this guy after I finished this book.
( )

He didn't avoid boring me.

I really, really wanted to like this book, too. I struggled through 100 pages and just couldn't go on. ( )

Loved the title of this book and was excited to pick it up, having read other memoirs of scientists (Richard Feynman, memorably). Found though that this book didn't resonate. Liked the idea of the Remembered Lessons at the end of each chapter but found them unexpectedly uninspiring (e.g. Work on Sundays, College is for learning how to think, Use snappy sentences to open your chapters, etc.). ( )

This was a fab book - I do love a science book that I don't quite understand...

I loved the science - obviously Mr Watson contributed a lot to modern science, especially to what we know about DNA, as well as in other spheres - but it was almost more fascinating to read about him and his peers. I was surprised to find that to me he was slightly unlikeable, I suppose because you don't expect that when someone has written a book about themself. Or because he should have been a jolly, affable professor type. This, strangely, made me enjoy the book even more. The story - science and a chronological anecdotal history - moved along at a good pace and kept me reading.

For me, this was an exposure to a high level, ground breaking scientific community, but it was also modern history come alive, and I think that is what made it so enjoyable.

I've never been a big fan of biographies, one of the things that puts me off is the vanity and self importance usually required in an individual to make them think they are interesting enough for other people to want to read about them, whether they write the book or get someone else to do it. However, there are a certain few who I think warrant an entire book devoted to their life, which is probably the case here. James Watson, aside from contributing greatly to the field of molecular genetics, is an amusing writer. He possesses no great literary skill, but makes up for it with his honest tone of writing and the way his personal character comes through.
I doubt this book would be of much interest to anyone not familiar with much science, a lot of the funniest parts of the book are in the recollection of exchanges or anecdotes he has to tell us about other well known scientists. He perhaps over does the name dropping, but I think a part of it is his eagerness to show that he was not working alone and that others were involved in the scientific breakthroughs just as much as he was.
After each chapter there are a series of pieces of advice that he has to offer other scientists, based on what he learnt during that part of his life, including how he would have done things differently if he had the chance. This is interesting to me, as I have studied biology at university and am at the point when I have to think seriously how best to make the most of the early years of a career in scientific research. Not all the advice will be relevant to everyone, but to scientists it will be interesting to know the opinions of Watson on such varied matters, even if you disregard it.
His other book, the Double Helix, covers just the time around the discovery of the structure of DNA, and is thus a more exciting read. This book documents from his time in school, all the way through his career, and will for this reason not be quite so gripping, but it does provide a fuller picture of his life. ( )