Recommended Books
from Paul Nurse

Book List Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge Karl Popper On the Origin of Species Charles Darwin The Logic of Life François Jacob The Abyss Marguerite Yourcenar The Inheritors William Golding The Life of Galileo Bertolt Brecht

Background Paul Nurse has received the Lasker Award (1998) and the Nobel Prize (2001) for pioneering genetic and molecular studies that revealed the universal machinery for regulating cell division in all eukaryotic organisms. In 1999 he was honored with knighthood in Great Britain for services to cancer research and cell biology. Since 2003 he has been president of The Rockefeller University, in New York City, where he also continues research on the molecular machineries that control cell division and cell shape. Essay Here are some books I recommend, and comments about why they are important. Conjectures and Refutations, by Karl Popper, is a philosophy book which is unusual for the genre in that it really helps scientists understand what they actually do. On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, is the brilliant book of biology and beautifully written. It was relevant 150 years ago and is still relevant today. The Logic of Life, by François Jacob, is an unusual and imaginative history of biology, especially of heredity and biological organization. It's very good on science outside the Anglo Saxon world. The Abyss, by Marguerite Yourcenar, is a novel dealing with what happens when courageous intellectual honesty meets inflexible authority. It is set in the late Middle Ages, but actually it is about today. The Inheritors, by William Golding, is a novel describing how modern man replaces Neanderthal man. It tells us about ourselves and what we are. The Life of Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht, is a play that shows that scientific honesty will always prevail even against the strongest oppression. It is a profoundly optimistic assessment of the role of science.