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My Life in Science
Brenner, Sydney; BioMed Central Limited, London, 2001,
v191 pp., ISBN 0-9540278-0-9, $21 or 14.99.
One name that should come very close to the top of any
list of the movers and shakers of the heady days of molecular biology is surely that of the author of this little book.
Brenner has been associated intimately with the most
productive thinking about the coding problem (how the
base sequence in DNA is related to the amino acid sequence of proteins), with the discovery of mRNA (the molecular intermediate between DNA and the machinery for
protein biosynthesis), with much impetus behind the various genome projects, with the establishment of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model for understanding the molecular basis of development of animals
and especially of their nervous systems, and with work
on the Japanese puffer fish (called fugu) whose genome
is very compact, because it contains little repetitive and
junk DNA. His influence, as a person and as a scientist,
in establishing the molecular foundations of present-day
biology and biotechnology, has been nothing if not
immense.
Based on 15 h of videotaped interviews with Lewis
Wolpert in London, England, which have been edited by
E. C. Friedberg and E. Lawrence, and supplemented by
linking and explanatory passages (which I found informative and unobtrusive), the book highlights the scientific
development and expression of Brenners ideas during an
enviably productive and creative career pursued initially in
South Africa but mostly in the United Kingdom and with a
brief stint in the United States. Very helpful, especially for
the novice scientific reader, are the footnotes in the form of
references to published work and of biographic material on
scientists referred to in the text.
In Brenners style and carefully chosen words one
senses the powerful drive that impelled a precocious
young man of immigrant parents, one who had learned to
read from newspapers spread as tablecloths by the age of
four years and who had received a bursary to study medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand at the age of 14
years, to become a protagonist in the uncovering of the
most fundamental aspects of modern biology. The devouring passion of his dedication to science and his legendary
love of almost untiring conversation (which he used as a
mechanism for generating ideas from which valuable nuggets can be filtered out and refined), of words and of play
on words, permeate most pages. Brilliance (almost dazzling), self-confidence (substantial, but based on solid
knowledge and inner security), energy (seemingly endless),
and a cynical stance toward established authority (scien-

tific or otherwise and frequently just short of disrespect)

characterize the narrator. Flashes of incisive wit and intriguing anecdotes abound in his narrative.
The first three of ten chapters (which range from 9 to 23
pages in length) contain reminiscences of growing up in
South Africa, of two years at Oxford (highlighted by his
meeting James Watson and Francis Crick), and of a stay of
several months at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (where
he met Seymour Benzer). These contacts were to become
linked inextricably with his subsequent scientific work. In
the next six chapters the focus is on the discovery of
mRNA, the deciphering of the genetic code, the replication
of DNA, the challenge posed by higher organisms, molecular biology, and C. elegans, and the evolution of genetics
and the genetics of evolution. The final chapter is a stimulating potpourri of his views on the following: reading
(Biology is a subject in which you have to read extensively, p. 174), losing ones memory, personal strengths and
weaknesses, creativity (One of the things about creativity
is not to be afraid of saying something wrong . . . Another
thing that is terribly important . . . is day-dreaming, p.
181), personal achievements, competition and fraud in
science, scientific heroes, and the future. There is no index, although a limited one that lists only the names of
those mentioned in the text would have required little effort
to compile and would have been useful. The cover photograph is the only illustration provided.
As an avid reader of scientific biography and particularly
autobiography, I noted with interest mention of a stepson,
of three children, and of a wife but was disappointed to
find no names or other particulars. The same applies to
father, mother, and an older sibling. Probably very few
scientists are, or have been, just scientists, totally isolated
from loved ones with a claim on their attention, affection,
and interest and with influence on their careers, achievements, and character. But such omissions are understandable in an autobiography produced the way this one was.
This is not a book to be approached without a background in the basics of molecular biology and genetics or
without a deep interest in the thought processes and personality behind the remarkable achievements of one of the
foremost experimenters and scientific thinkers of the 20th
century. Young, analytical minds eager to understand the
interplay of scientists on each other and to contribute to
what Brenner calls the reinvention of physiology (p. 189)
should find much here that is inspiring and worthy of
emulation.
Frank Vella
18 Leyden Crescent, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
Canada S7J 2S4