For most people, the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA is the kind of ninth grade science fact you forgot as soon as the final was over. But the real story behind the breakthrough is a lot more interesting than trying to remember which of the bases pair up – and in The Double Helix, DNA-discoverer James D. Watson shares his memories of the find that earned him and his research partner, Francis Crick, a Nobel Prize.

The book, narrated almost entirely by Grover Gardner, traces the team's work on DNA at the Cavendish Laboratory in England in 1953, when Watson was in his early 20s. He and Crick raced frantically against other researchers – most notably Linus Pauling – in an effort to illuminate the structure of DNA, and thereby shed light on the genetics of all life. Watson doesn't shy away from using scientific terms, but Gardner's straightforward reading makes even the most complicated experiments easy to follow. And while the book's original release inspired controversy from scientists who didn't agree with Watson's version of events, Gardner gives Watson's voice all the excitement, passion, and dedication you'd expect from a young scientist on the verge of one of the world's greatest discoveries.

Roger Clark lends his elegant tenor to the book's afterward, written by Sir Lawrence Bragg --the youngest Nobel winner in history - who offers a scientist's take on Watson's memories. Bragg points out that The Double Helix is a record of "impressions, not facts" but he gets to the heart of what makes this memoir so appealing when he reminds us that few scientific books are as fresh and direct as Watson's – which is something your ninth grade science teacher would no doubt agree with. —Blythe Copeland