Stephen Royle

Books about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology are plentiful. If
you haven't read any, the best place to start are the books written by
some of the Nobelists themselves: "I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier" by
Perutz, "My Life in Science" by Brenner. Also, "Sequences, Sequence,
Sequences" by Sanger, "What Mad Pursuit" by Crick and even Watson's "The
Double Helix" cover 'how it was done' and 'what the place is like'.
After that are the biographies of the Nobelists and their associates.
Then comes the next layer, the comprehensive but rather dry "Designs for
Life: Molecular Biology after World War II" by de Chadarevian and hell,
even "The Eighth Day of Creation" by Judson is substantially about the
LMB, since so many major discoveries in Molecular Biology happened
there.

If your appetite is not sated after wading through all of those, then
there are the books for the insiders.

John Finch wrote a book "A Nobel Fellow on Every Floor" which was
enjoyable, if rather selective on who and what was included. The latest
book from the LMB Press is a collection of essays entitled "Memories and
Consequences: Visiting Scientists at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular
Biology, Cambridge". It was edited by Hugh Huxley and was made available
last summer (around the time of his death).  
You can get it
[here](http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/ebooks/Memories_and_consequences-Hugh_Huxley.epub)

 

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The premise of Memories and Consequences is that there were a large
number of postdoctoral fellows, mainly from the USA, who spent time at
the LMB (in the 60s, mainly) and then went away and had hugely
successful scientific careers. At one point in the book, Tom Steitz
writes that, of his friends during this period, 40% are now NAS members!
The essays cover the time of these visitors in England and how it shaped
their subsequent careers.

This is definitely a book to dip in and out of. The experiences are
actually pretty repetitive: yes, we drive on the other side of the road;
Cambridge is a very stuffy place and Max Perutz liked to be called Max.
This repetition is amplified if the chapters are read
one-after-the-other. Overall however, the essays are nice reminiscences
of a booming time in Molecular Biology and many capture the magic of
working at the LMB during this period. Brenner and Crick come to life
and even Sir Lawrence Bragg looms large in many chapters filling the
authors with awe.

When I first downloaded the book, I read the chapters by those whose
work I am most familiar. I didn't even know that Dick McIntosh had spent
not one but two sabbaticals at the LMB. Tom Pollard, Harvey Lodish etc.
followed. I then read the other chapters when I had more time.

The best chapters were those by Harry Noller and by Peter Moore who gave
the right amount (for my taste) of personal insight to their stay at the
LMB. I would recommend that the reader skips the chapter by William Dove
and Alexandra Shevlovsky, who tried to be a bit clever and didn't quite
pull it off. Sid Altman's chapter has previously been published and I
actually witnessed him read this out (more-or-less) verbatim at the
DNA50+1 celebrations -- which was far more enjoyable than it sounds.

In short, I enjoyed the book and it's worth reading some of the chapters
if you have a leaning towards the history of science, but there are
plenty of other books (listed above) where you should start if you want
to find out what life is like inside the Nobel Prize Factory.

I'll leave you with three quotes that I enjoyed immensely:

> "I remember seeing copies of the journal Cell, where we all yearned to
> publish (though, I noticed, not the really great scientists, like John
> Sulston or Sydney Brenner). I would shudder and turn away; Cell was
> for other scientists, not for me."  
> Cynthia Kenyon
>
> "Like many others who worked at the LMB in that era, I still think of
> its modus operandi as exemplifying the blueprint that all scientific
> research establishments should aspire to emulate. Pack the very best
> scientists you can find into a building, so densely that they cannot
> avoid talking to each other, and encourage them to interact in every
> other way you can. A canteen or dining room might be a good idea. (The
> facility itself need not be luxurious, and indeed, it is probably
> better if it is not.) Give those scientists ample staff support, and
> all the money they need to get on with the job. Stir well, and then be
> patient because good science takes time. My subsequent career has
> taught me that this recipe is much harder to execute than it is to
> describe. I still wonder how the MRC managed to do it so well for so
> long."  
> Peter Moore
>
> "I learned that protein chemistry didn't need me, that King's College
> High Table was for tougher folk than I, and that Sydney talked but
> Francis conversed."  
> Frank Stahl

A comprehensive guide to LMB books is available
[here](http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/about-lmb/archive-and-alumni/books/)

Don't worry, book reviews will be a very infrequent feature as I hardly
have any time to read books these days!

---

The post title is from My Blank Pages -- Velvet Crush from their LP
Teenage Symphonies to God. Presumably a play on the Dylan/Byrds song My
Back Pages.


Books about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology are plentiful. If you haven’t read any, the best place to start are the books written by some of the Nobelists themselves: “I Wish I’d Made You Angry Earlier” by Perutz, “My Life in Science” by Brenner.

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My Blank Pages