Shane Crotty
Ahead of the Curve
David Baltimore's Life in Science
$21.95, £12.95 paperback
$9.95 paperback on sale
978-0-520-23904-3
Available Now
Enter a discount source code on the shopping cart page to buy at sale price.
*Sale prices are only available in the United States and Canada.
Sale Home | How do I get a discount source code?
270 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 28 b/w photographs, 6 line illustrations
April 2001, Available worldwide
Categories: Autobiographies & Biographies; History of Science; Science
April 2001, Available worldwide
Categories: Autobiographies & Biographies; History of Science; Science
Downloadable eBook version available:
Adobe E-Reader at ebooks.com, $15.95
Adobe E-Reader at ebooks.com, $15.95
"Crotty does an impressive job of outlining Baltimore's scientific role in many of his major discoveries and makes many of the basics of modern molecular biology accessible to the general public."—Publishers Weekly
"[T]he personal as well as scientific reasons for Baltimore's eminence shine through."—New Scientist
"Crotty has a knack for explaining complicated science in lay language."—Washington Post Book World
"In his hugely entertaining biography of David Baltimore, Shane Crotty delivers a vivid description of the career of one of the most influential scientists of our time, while providing a lively account of discoveries that shaped biology over the last forty years and of events that contributed to define its place in today's society. Crotty's writing style is a hit, he brings the science to everyone's level, and he has a great story to tell."—Nature Medicine
"Crotty's book brilliantly illuminates this pillar of molecular biology, and should be read by anyone, whether scientist or not, who cares about the modern research enterprise and the politics that drive it."—Nature
"A compelling biography. [Crotty's] book works best as a window into the culture of scientists, allowing us to see how these wizards work, think and interact."—Wall Street Journal
"When David Baltimore entered biology, the molecular revolution was over: now the goal was to unravel molecular complexity, not to prove its existence. In this highly readable book, Crotty shows how efficiently Baltimore did precisely that."—American Scientist
"[T]he personal as well as scientific reasons for Baltimore's eminence shine through."—New Scientist
"Crotty has a knack for explaining complicated science in lay language."—Washington Post Book World
"In his hugely entertaining biography of David Baltimore, Shane Crotty delivers a vivid description of the career of one of the most influential scientists of our time, while providing a lively account of discoveries that shaped biology over the last forty years and of events that contributed to define its place in today's society. Crotty's writing style is a hit, he brings the science to everyone's level, and he has a great story to tell."—Nature Medicine
"Crotty's book brilliantly illuminates this pillar of molecular biology, and should be read by anyone, whether scientist or not, who cares about the modern research enterprise and the politics that drive it."—Nature
"A compelling biography. [Crotty's] book works best as a window into the culture of scientists, allowing us to see how these wizards work, think and interact."—Wall Street Journal
"When David Baltimore entered biology, the molecular revolution was over: now the goal was to unravel molecular complexity, not to prove its existence. In this highly readable book, Crotty shows how efficiently Baltimore did precisely that."—American Scientist
"A thoroughly researched, vivid, and accessible portrait of one of the towering intellectual figures of our time, David Baltimore: his life, his politics, his driving ambition, his stunning self-confidence."—Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis, National Book Award Nominee
"A fascinating history of the life and science of one of the twentieth century's most important scientists. What drove Baltimore to a Nobel Prize, the establishment of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and the presidency of both Rockefeller and Caltech? This first book by a promising young writer provides a large part of the story."—Phillip A. Sharp, 1993 Nobel Prize winner and Cancer Institute Professor, MIT
"This is the story of one of the most extraordinary lives in science today. David Baltimore has done Nobel-prize-winning work on viruses and cancer, he has led three of the world's great centers of biological research, and he has endured a tragicomic Star Chamber trial in Washington, a trial in which the nature of science and politics were illuminated in harsh and sometimes glary lights. I hope an Arthur Miller or a Jonathan Miller reads this book, registers the drama of this story, and puts it on the stage."—Jonathan Weiner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Beak of the Finch
"I enjoyed the book immensely. Shane Crotty writes with the drive and energy characteristic of his subject, David Baltimore, capturing the pulse of the life and times of a great scientist whose life has not only been spiked with the exhilaration of scientific discovery, but enmeshed in public science policy and politics and concerned with the building of great institutions."—Thomas Cech, Nobel laureate and President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
"A fascinating history of the life and science of one of the twentieth century's most important scientists. What drove Baltimore to a Nobel Prize, the establishment of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and the presidency of both Rockefeller and Caltech? This first book by a promising young writer provides a large part of the story."—Phillip A. Sharp, 1993 Nobel Prize winner and Cancer Institute Professor, MIT
"This is the story of one of the most extraordinary lives in science today. David Baltimore has done Nobel-prize-winning work on viruses and cancer, he has led three of the world's great centers of biological research, and he has endured a tragicomic Star Chamber trial in Washington, a trial in which the nature of science and politics were illuminated in harsh and sometimes glary lights. I hope an Arthur Miller or a Jonathan Miller reads this book, registers the drama of this story, and puts it on the stage."—Jonathan Weiner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Beak of the Finch
"I enjoyed the book immensely. Shane Crotty writes with the drive and energy characteristic of his subject, David Baltimore, capturing the pulse of the life and times of a great scientist whose life has not only been spiked with the exhilaration of scientific discovery, but enmeshed in public science policy and politics and concerned with the building of great institutions."—Thomas Cech, Nobel laureate and President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Shane Crotty's biography of David Baltimore details the life and work of one of the most brilliant, powerful, and controversial scientists of our time. Although only in his early sixties, Baltimore has made major discoveries in molecular biology, established the prestigious Whitehead Institute at MIT, been president of Rockefeller University, won the Nobel Prize, and been vilified by detractors in one of the most scandalous and protracted investigations of scientific fraud ever. He is now president of Caltech and a leader in the search for an AIDS vaccine. Crotty not only tells the compelling story of this larger-than-life figure, he also treats the reader to a lucid account of the amazing revolution that has occurred in biology during the past forty years.
Basing his narrative on many personal interviews, Crotty recounts the milestones of Baltimore's career: completing his Ph.D. at Rockefeller University in eighteen months, participating in the anti—Vietnam War movement, winning a Nobel Prize at age thirty-seven for the codiscovery of reverse transcriptase, and co-organizing the recombinant DNA/genetic engineering moratorium. Along the way, readers learn what viruses are and what they do, what cancer is and how it happens, the complexities of the AIDS problem, how genetic engineering works, and why making a vaccine is a complicated process. And, as Crotty considers Baltimore's public life, he retells the famous scientific fraud saga and Baltimore's vindication after a decade of character assassination.
Crotty possesses the alchemical skill of converting technical scientific history into entertaining prose as he conveys Baltimore's huge ambitions, intensity, scientific genius, attitude toward science and politics, and Baltimore's own view about what happened in the "Baltimore Affair." Ahead of the Curve shows why with his complex personality, keen involvement in public issues, and wide-ranging interests David Baltimore has not only shaped the face of American science as we know it today, but has also become a presence in our culture.
Basing his narrative on many personal interviews, Crotty recounts the milestones of Baltimore's career: completing his Ph.D. at Rockefeller University in eighteen months, participating in the anti—Vietnam War movement, winning a Nobel Prize at age thirty-seven for the codiscovery of reverse transcriptase, and co-organizing the recombinant DNA/genetic engineering moratorium. Along the way, readers learn what viruses are and what they do, what cancer is and how it happens, the complexities of the AIDS problem, how genetic engineering works, and why making a vaccine is a complicated process. And, as Crotty considers Baltimore's public life, he retells the famous scientific fraud saga and Baltimore's vindication after a decade of character assassination.
Crotty possesses the alchemical skill of converting technical scientific history into entertaining prose as he conveys Baltimore's huge ambitions, intensity, scientific genius, attitude toward science and politics, and Baltimore's own view about what happened in the "Baltimore Affair." Ahead of the Curve shows why with his complex personality, keen involvement in public issues, and wide-ranging interests David Baltimore has not only shaped the face of American science as we know it today, but has also become a presence in our culture.
Prologue
1. Great Neck, Long Island
2. Swarthmore
3. Apprenticeships
4. Salk Institute
5. MIT
6. Recombinant DNA
7. Nobel Gold Poliovirus: An Interlude
8. Whitehead Institute
9. Rockefeller
10. Homecoming
11. Caltech
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
1. Great Neck, Long Island
2. Swarthmore
3. Apprenticeships
4. Salk Institute
5. MIT
6. Recombinant DNA
7. Nobel Gold Poliovirus: An Interlude
8. Whitehead Institute
9. Rockefeller
10. Homecoming
11. Caltech
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Prematurity in Scientific Discovery: On Resistance and Neglect, by Ernest B. Hook, Editor
On Her Own Terms: Annie Montague Alexander and the Rise of Science in the American West, by Barbara R. Stein
On Her Own Terms: Annie Montague Alexander and the Rise of Science in the American West, by Barbara R. Stein