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In a new preface to this special edition of his critically acclaimed memoir, Francois Jacob recalls the events that brought him to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the early 1960's and taught him much about phage biology and the informal ways of American science. Throughout his book, Jacob demonstrates a scientist's eye for detail and a poet's instinct for the inner life, as he tells of a privileged Parisian boyhood, young love, heroism in war, and the fascination of life at the edge of scientific discovery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

booring
François Jacob (born 1920) shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Medicine for "discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis". In the 1970s he developed the idea of evolution being a tinkerer, because, as opposed to how an engineer usually works, adaptations almost always arise not from scratch, but from the modifications of existing molecules, organs or metabolic processes (for example, see Jacob, 1977).

I bought Jacob's autobiography published in 1987 from a used bookstore hoping to learn a little bit more about a man who at some point in his life appears to have been an important scientist. Had I known boring would be a one-word summary of his life and ideas, or rather the way he presented them, I would have saved my $2 for a cup of coffee.

This is a tediously personal, rambling account of Jacob's life. The very 1st chapter begins depressingly with the memories of the sufferings and the death of a friend of Jacob's, continues with a discourse on suicide and them rambles on with fragments of events from his life. A perfect way to turn off your readers right from the beginning, don't you think so? And then there is excessive philosophizing throughout the book mostly in a disorganized manner. Here is an example: one long paragraph starts out with what appears to be an account of how Jacob tried to decide what kind of research he wanted to do in the beginning of his scientific career and ends with criticisms of Soviet genetics under Lysenko and French communists. Who cares?

Jacob appears to be an atheist preoccupied with death and dying and who may be subject to bouts of depression. I could only read randomly selected parts of the book and now wasting my time writing about it.


Jacob, F. 1977. Evolution and tinkering. Science 196:1161.

Perhaps one of the most significant books in my life
I got a copy of this book long time ago and still remember almost as if happens yesterday. The positive effects of this book have in my life are unforgetable. Actually one of the reasons I decided to became a scientist was because the way Francois Jacob found his way in hard times. The book details his experiences during the second world war and after. In these days, we are in a new century and it seems that we haven't learn much about peace and respect and we have quite similar hard time as Francois Jacob describes. However, I totally believes that this book will be a positive hit for all students in Jr college and high schools and for sure will encourage the scientist of the future to take over this activity. The future of those that identify themselfs with Francois Jacob's life will be significant as time advance.

a surprisingly gripping story
Even though I am a molecular biologist, I began reading The Statue Within with a bit of prejudice that it would be good for me but not necessarily interesting.I figured it would be beneficial to learn more detail aboutthe work of one of the founders of my field.Boy was I surprised!What Igot instead was the examination of a complex and vivid personality, a lifefilled with great flux, confusion, but most of all, a passion forknowledge.Dr. Jacob started off as a reluctant medical student, went toEngland to escape the Nazi takeover of Paris, signed up with DeGaulle'sunofficial French army and served as a medic in a messy, confusing war. Afterward he returned to Paris and his medical studies, but, lackingdirection, found himself in the midst of new and interesting biologicalresearch about genetics.Fascinated and obsessed, he pestered and cajoledhis way into a top laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and began toexperiment.His work of course was fundamental to the understanding of themechanical functioning of genetics, and he went on to win the Nobel.Butthe beauty of the book is that it isn't about the glory and accolades - itis about the thirst for knowledge and the collaborative bonds that formbetween bright minds.It is very good for a scientist to be reminded ofthe essential nature of curiosity and the trial and defense of oneshypotheses.I will be reading this one for the rest of my career! ... Read more

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Spectacular City presents the work of some 30 leading photographers of the urban landscape, an international group with a particularly strong Dutch representation. Its artists find an almost extraterrestrial beauty in liminal urban spaces, sites in transition. And in recent years their work has offered a whole new way of seeing, among other subjects, ports and industrial zones: like some other Cinderellas featured here, these neighborhoods were once considered ugly but have now acquired such a fresh visual appeal that they have come to serve as inspiration for new public spaces and buildings. The diversity of the assembled work reveals the complexity and versatility of both the urban environment and the photographers, who include Olivo Barbieri, Oliver Boberg, Balthasar Burkhard, Vincenzo Castella, Edgar Cleijne, Stephane Couturier, Thomas Demand, Andreas Gefeller, Geert Goiris, Andreas Gursky, Naoya Hatakeyama, Todd Hido, Dan Holdsworth, Francesco Jodice, Aglaia Konrad, Luisa Lambri, Ine Lamers, Ze Tsung Leong, Armin Linke, Taiji Matsue, Karin Apollonia Muller, Bas Princen, Thomas Ruff, Frank van der Salm, Heidi Specker, Jules Spinatsch, Thomas Struth, Michael Wesely and Edwin Zwakman. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Chapters: Jean-Pierre Changeux, François Jacob, Axel Kahn, Lucien Cuénot, Antoine Danchin, Albert Jacquard, Jacques Monod, Boris Ephrussi, Jean Weissenbach, Thomas Bourgeron. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 56. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Jean-Pierre Changeux (born 6 April 1936) is a French neuroscientist known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure and function of proteins (with a focus on the allosteric proteins), to the early development of the nervous system up to cognitive functions. Although being famous in biological sciences for the MWC model, the identification and purification of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and the theory of epigenesis by synapse selection are also noticeable scientific achievements. Changeux is known by the non-scientific public for his ideas regarding the connection between mind and physical brain. As put forth in his book, Conversations on Mind, Matter and Mathematics, Changeux strongly supports the view that the nervous system is active rather than reactive and that interaction with the environment, rather than being instructive, results in the selection of preexisting internal representations. Changeux was born in Domont, France. He entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1955, where he obtained a Bachelor's degree (Licence) in 1957 and a Master's degree (Diplome d'Études Supérieure) in 1958. He also received his agrégation in natural science the same year. He began his scientific career during his ENS years during summer internships in Banyuls-sur-Mer where he identified a new genus of parasitic Copepod. He pursued PhD studies at the Pasteur Institute under the direction of Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob, and gained his doctorate in 1964. Changeux then left France for postdoctoral studies first at the Uni...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1798741 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World of Microbiology and Immunology, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1577 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the concepts, theories, discoveries, and pioneers in microbiology and immunology, using a mix of traditional academic and topical articles, this title addresses current ethical, legal, and social issues with special emphasis given to biological warfare and terrorism. ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Louis Pasteur, Charles Nicolle, Ernest Fourneau, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Alexandre Yersin, Luc Montagnier, François Jacob, Émile Roux, Félix D'hérelle, André Capron, Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, Jacques Monod, Ilya Ilitch Metchnikov, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean Weissenbach, Albert Calmette, Charles Chamberland, Émile Duclaux, Guy Cornély, Philippe Froguel, Réseau International Des Instituts Pasteur, Philippe Sansonetti, Eugène Jamot, Jules Bordet, Edmond Nocard, Camille Guérin, Victor Babeş, Ernest Conseil, Paul-Louis Simond, Louis Blaringhem, Jean-Claude Chermann, Ralf Altmeyer, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Noël Rist, Philippe Kourilsky, Édouard de Pomiane, Pierre Lecomte Du Nouÿ, Adrien Loir, Christine Petit, Amédée Borrel, Félix Mesnil, François Gros, Institut Pasteur D'indonésie, André Chantemesse, Alice Dautry, André Lwoff, Gabriel Bertrand, Pierre Lépine, Sergueï Vinogradski, Charles Mérieux, Louis Rapkine, Institut Pasteur D'hô-Chi-Minh-Ville, Alexandre Besredka, Henri Mouton. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Louis Pasteur, né à Dole (Jura) le 27 décembre 1822 et mort à Marnes-la-Coquette (Seine-et-Oise) le 28 septembre 1895, est un scientifique français, chimiste et physicien de formation, pionnier de la microbiologie. Louis Pasteur en 1845Dessin de Charles Lebayle.Louis Pasteur est né le 27 décembre 1822 à Dole. Son père, après avoir été sergent dans l'armée napoléonienne, reprit la profession familiale de tanneur. En 1825 la famille quitte Dole pour Marnoz, pour enfin s'installer à Arbois en 1830. Le jeune Pasteur suit à Arbois les cours d'enseignement mutuel puis entre au collège de la ville. C'est à cette époque qu'il se fait connaître pour ses talents de ...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Raymond Ruyer, François Jacob, Georges Canguilhem, André Pichot, Animal-Machine, Homme-Machine. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Raymond Ruyer (Plainfaing dans les Vosges, 1902 - Nancy, 1987) est un penseur et philosophe français du siècle. Formé à l'École normale supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, ce montagnard vosgien tôt orphelin de père qui cache sous un aspect austère une grande espièglerie d'éternel étudiant appliqué est devenu, à son retour de guerre et de captivité, professeur de philosophie à l'université de Nancy. A partir de 1983, Raymond Ruyer souhaite écrire sur sa vie. Mais il se méfie de la forme autobiographique. Le philosophe discret sait que les livres composés pendant sa retraite studieuse des années 1970 lui ont permis de faire connaître son courant de pensée et d'exposer un message. Aussi décide-t-il d'abord de parler du coin de montagne des Vosges qu'il aime et où il réside dès qu'il le peut avec son épouse, sachant que le fil du récit et les inévitables confidences sur ses amis et sa famille le forceront à définir ce qu'il a été de la façon la plus dépouillée possible d'artefacts. Mais le soir de la vie enveloppe déjà un homme désabusé et triste lorsqu'il rédige l'ouvrage. Il ressent une grande lassitude et des douleurs physiques, la mort de sa femme Mayi laisse un vide effrayant, impossible à combler et le solitaire touché par les fortes émotions que lui impose une douloureuse remémoration ne parvient à rassembler avec concision ses souvenirs. Il ressent de même une semblable sympathie douloureuse envers les habitants des vallées vosgiennes, soumises à une longue crise textile et vacillant sous une souffrance sociale. Se sentant tout au long de sa vie favorisé par son statut soc...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Max Delbrück, Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Stefan Ślopek, Félix D'herelle, François Jacob, Sydney Brenner, Joshua Lederberg, Roy Mackal, Seymour Benzer, Alfred Hershey, Salvador Luria, Bruce Alberts, Werner Arber, Hamilton O. Smith, Gunther Stent, Allan Campbell, Walter Fiers, André Michel Lwoff, Franklin Stahl, Norton Zinder, Richard Lenski, Lin Chao, James J. Bull. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS (8 June 1916 28 July 2004), was a British molecular biologist, physicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson. He, Watson and Maurice Wilkins were jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material". Crick was an important theoretical molecular biologist and played a crucial role in research related to revealing the genetic code. He is widely known for use of the term central dogma to summarise an idea that genetic information flow in cells is essentially one-way, from DNA to RNA to protein. During the remainder of his career, he held the post of J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. His later research centered on theoretical neurobiology and attempts to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. He remained in this post until his death; "he was editing a manuscript on his death bed, a scientist until the bitter end" said Christof Koch. Francis Crick was the first son of Harry Crick (18871948) and Annie Elizabeth Crick, née Wilkins, (18791955)...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=11461 ... Read more

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Chapters: Breton Writers, Middle Breton Literature, Alfred Jarry, Max Jacob, François-René de Chateaubriand, Ernest Renan, Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais, Olier Mordrel, François-Marie Luzel, Corentin Louis Kervran, Louis Guilloux, Eugène Guillevic, Charles de Gaulle, Noël Du Fail, Xavier de Langlais, Bernard le Nail, List of Breton Writers, Abeozen, Youenn Drezen, Anatole le Braz, Job de Roincé, Pierre-Louis Ginguené, Jean Markale, Paul Sébillot, Bertrand D'argentré, Xavier Grall, Jeanne Coroller-Danio, Jean-Pierre Calloc'h, Victor Segalen, Émile Masson, Yann Queffélec, Tristan Corbière, Théodore Claude Henri, Vicomte Hersart de La Villemarqué, Roparz Hemon, Jean de Montigny, Yves Lainé, Buhez Sante Barba, Pêr-Jakez Helias, Erwan Vallerie, Morvan Lebesque, Yann Brekilien, Louis Tiercelin, Jules Gros, Guillaume de Saint-André. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 165. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ernest Renan (28 February 1823 12 October 1892) was a French philosopher and writer, devoted to his native province of Brittany. He is best known for his influential historical works on early Christianity and his political theories. He was born at Tréguier in Brittany to a family of fishermen. His grandfather, having made a small fortune with his fishing-shack, bought a house at Tréguier and settled there, and his father, captain of a small cutter and an ardent republican, married the daughter of Royalist tradesmen from the neighbouring town of Lannion. All his life, Renan felt conflicted between his father's and his mother's political beliefs. He was five years old when his father died, and his sister, Henriette, twelve years his senior, became the moral head of the household. Having in vain attempted to keep a school for girls at Tréguier, she departed and went to Paris as teacher i...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=191819 ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Albert Netter, Jean Bernard, Axel Munthe, François Jacob, Jean Hamburger, Boris Cyrulnik, Ahmed Ben Miled, Hamed Karoui, Jean-Baptiste Van Mons, Jacob Spon, Jean Dausset, Jean Hamon, Raymond Turpin, Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Jean Lhermitte, Yves Pouliquen, Paul-Jacques Malouin, Jean Fernel, Olry Terquem, Yves Agid, Maurice Cornette, Marcel Bessis, Patrick Pelloux, Pierre Tarin, Antoine Louis Dugès, Esprit Blanche, Pierre-Hubert Nysten, Philippe Gaucher, Mathieu Chabrol, Augustin Roux, Armand-Jean-Baptiste Rothureau, Julien Busson, Pierre Raynal, Paul Brouardel, Urbain de Vandenesse. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Albert Netter, né en juin 1910 à Paris, est un médecin français, spécialiste de gynécologie et d'endocrinologie. Il est aussi président fondateur de la Société Européenne de Gynécologie. Il a créé en 1972 la première banque du sperme en France. Albert Netter effectua sa scolarité au lycée Montaigne puis au lycée Louis-le-Grand avant de commencer ses études de médecine. Sa carrière débuta comme externe des Hôpitaux de Paris en 1928 puis comme interne à partir de 1930 où il fut, à seulement vingt ans, le plus jeune interne de France (Netter 1982). Il obtint la médaille d'or de l'internat en 1936 et devint docteur en médecine de la Faculté de Paris la même année. À la suite de cela il séjourna un an à Columbia University, New York, NY, et devint chef de clinique à la Faculté de médecine de Paris après son retour en 1937. Il fut engagé dans l'armée par devancement d'appel en 1930-1931 et servit de nouveau de septembre 1939 à septembre 1940, puis d'août 1944 à mai 1945. C'est donc logiquement, début septembre 1939 aux premiers coups de canon de la deuxième guerre mondiale, qu'Alice Lam...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Der Erwerb des Buches enthält gleichzeitig die kostenlose Mitgliedschaft im Buchklub des Verlags zum Ausprobieren - dort können Sie von über einer Million Bücher ohne weitere Kosten auswählen. Das Buch besteht aus Wikipedia-Artikeln: Niels Bohr, Johan Kjeldahl, Hermann Diels, François Jacob, Holger Bech Nielsen, Elliott Lieb, Werner Wolfgang Rogosinski, Kurt Sethe, Bruno Snell, Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch, John Frank Adams, Wolfgang Schleich, Ekrem Akurgal, Władysław Szafer, Niels Kaj Jerne, Inge Nielsen, Klaus Alpers, Reinhardt Kristensen, Oliver Lowry, Julius Henrik Lange, Johan Ludvig Heiberg, Bent Fuglede, Axel Anthon Bjørnbo, Caspar Peter Paludan, Kirsten Hastrup,. Online finden Sie die kostenlose Aktualisierung der Bücher. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Niels Henrik David Bohr (* 7. Oktober 1885 in Kopenhagen; † 18. November 1962 ebenda) war ein dänischer Physiker. Er erhielt den Nobelpreis für Physik im Jahr 1922 „für seine Verdienste um die Erforschung der Struktur der Atome und der von ihnen ausgehenden Strahlung". Der Vater von Niels Bohr, Christian Bohr, war Professor für Physiologie, seine Mutter Ellen (geb. Adler) entstammte einer jüdischen Familie. Gemeinsam mit seinem Vater und seinem Bruder Harald Bohr führte er regelmäßig Gespräche und Diskussionen zu wissenschaftlichen Themen, die bei beiden Brüdern das Interesse für die Naturwissenschaften stärkten und das spätere Leben prägten. "Ich wuchs in einem Haus mit einem reichen intellektuellen Leben auf, in dem wissenschaftliche Diskussionen alltäglich waren. In der Tat machte mein Vater kaum eine Unterscheidung zwischen seiner eigenen wissenschaftlichen Arbeit und seinem lebhaften Interesse an allen Problemen des menschlichen Lebens" urteilt Niels Bohr später rückblickend über sein Elternhaus. Harald Bohr wurde später Professor für Mathematik, während sich Niels Bohr der Physik zuwendete. Sein Bruder war außerdem ein populärer dänischer Fußballspieler in der dänischen Nat...http://booksllc.net/?l=de&id=1099385 ... Read more

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Kapitel: Marcel Marceau, François Jacob, Klaus-Peter Stieglitz, Albert Merglen, Jürgen Linden, Jean Favier, Helmut Schröer. Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Marcel Marceau (22 March 1923 - 22 September 2007) was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown. Marcel Marceau (Marcel Mangel) was born in Strasbourg, France, to Ann Werzberg and Charles Mangel. When he was four, the family moved to Lille, but later returned to Strasbourg. When France entered World War II, Marceau, 16, fled with his family to Limoges. In 1944 his father, a kosher butcher, was captured and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Before being taken to the crematorium, his name was not registered. Marcel's mother survived. Marcel and his older brother, Alain, adopted the last name "Marceau" during the German occupation; the name was chosen as a reference to François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, a general of the French Revolution. The two brothers joined the French Resistance in Limoges, where they saved numerous children from the race laws and concentration camps, and, after the liberation of Paris, joined the French army. Owing to Marcel's excellent command of the English language, he worked as a liaison officer with General Patton's army. Marcel started miming as way of keeping children quiet, as they were escaping. Marceau was demobilized in 1946. He then enrolled as a student in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art in the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, where he studied with teachers like Joshua Smith and the great master, Étienne Decroux, who had also taught Jean-Louis Barrault. Marceau joined Barrault's company and was soon cast in the role of Arlequin in the pantomime, Baptiste - which Barrault himself had interpreted in the world-famous film Les Enfants du Paradis. Marceau's performance won him such acclaim that he was encouraged to present his first "mimodrama", called Praxitele and ...http://booksllc.net/?l=de ... Read more