Francis Crick

In Santa Ana, Mexico, the police chief, Jose Daniel Fiero, a former crime writer, investigates the death of an American woman photographer, stabbed and left naked at the foot of a church altar. By the author of No Happy Ending.

Forty years ago, Francis Crick, along with James Watson, made history with the discovery of the structure of DNA, forever changing our understanding of life itself. Now Crick is once again at the frontier of scientific discovery, turning his attention to the mysteries of human consciousness. Bent on deciphering the complexities of the brain, Crick maps out the neurobiology of vision. The result is a cogent, witty, and richly detailed analysis of how the brain "sees," and a daring exploration of some of the most fundamental questions of human existence: Do we have free will? What exactly is it that makes us sentient beings and different from other animals? Is there such a thing as a soul, or are we nothing more than an immensely complex collection of neurons? In this groundbreaking, provocative work, Francis Crick challenges the very foundations of current scientific, philosophical, and religious thought.

This is a personal account of what it is like to do science, by Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the double helical structure of DNA. The book is autobiographical, but focuses primarily on events that had an impact on his career as a scientist.