Crick

Name: Crick
Brand: Allen & Unwin
SKU: 9781800811058
Price: 69.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

A Mind in Motion – from DNA to the Brain

By Professor Matthew Cobb

Brief Description

'Cobb is a rare jewel' - Adam Rutherford Crick was a restless, relentless thinker, as fascinated by Beat poetry and psychedelics as the genetic meaning of life and the inner workings of the brain. Yet, for all his drive, he was galvanised by collaboration: with Jim... Read More

Format: Hardback

$69⁹⁹

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Crick

$69⁹⁹

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The first major biography of Francis Crick, by the Baillie-Gifford shortlisted author of The Idea of the Brain.

The first major biography of Francis Crick, by the Baillie-Gifford shortlisted author of The Idea of the Brain

Description

'Cobb is a rare jewel' - Adam Rutherford

Crick was a restless, relentless thinker, as fascinated by Beat poetry and psychedelics as the genetic meaning of life and the inner workings of the brain. Yet, for all his drive, he was galvanised by collaboration: with Jim Watson on DNA, with artists in Cambridge and California, and with his wife Odile, who drew the figure of the double helix that illuminated his most famous discovery. It was his debates and conflicts with these collaborators that powered a mind in motion.

Meticulously researched and shot through with insight and electrifying detail, Matthew Cobb reveals the man who changed our view of life forever. Crick is the first major biography of one of the twentieth century's most exciting minds.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781800811058

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 06 November 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Profile Books Ltd

Edition: Main

Illustration: 8pp colour plates

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 52.0mm

Width: 154.0mm

Height: 238.0mm

Weight: 900g

Pages: 608

Collections

Biography & Memoir Non-Fiction Professor Matthew Cobb Science & Technology Biographies

About the Author

Matthew Cobb is Professor of Zoology at the University of Manchester. The presenter of the BBC radio series Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares, his previous books include The Idea of the Brain: A History, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford, and The Genetic Age, a Sunday Times Book of the Year.

Also by Professor Matthew Cobb

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The Genetic Age

A TIMES ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 'The ideal guide to what is not just a fiendishly complex area of science but also an ethical minefield' Mail on Sunday A new gene editing technology, invented just seven years ago, has turned humanity into gods. Enabling us to manipulate the genes in virtually any organism with exquisite precision,...

By Professor Matthew Cobb

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Crick

AN ECONOMIST, GUARDIAN AND CHURCH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR Winner of the Hatchards First Biography Prize 2025 'The definitive backstory of one of the towering figures of 20th-century science' – Guardian 'Brilliant and inspiring. A landmark biography' – Adam Rutherford Francis Crick was a restless, relentless thinker, as fascinated by Beat poetry and psychedelics as the genetic meaning of...

By Professor Matthew Cobb

Paperback

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Out 1 Dec 2026
The Idea of the Brain

Longlisted for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize This is the story of our quest to understand the most mysterious object in the universe: the human brain. Today we tend to picture it as a computer. Earlier scientists thought about it in their own technological terms: as a telephone switchboard, or a clock, or all manner of fantastic mechanical or hydraulic...

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