Popular Science Review - Nature's Robots: A history of proteins

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Review - Nature's Robots: A History of Proteins - Charles Tanford & Jacqueline Reynolds

The phrase that best sums up this book as a popular science read is "close, but no cigar." There's no doubt that from a biological standpoint proteins are fascinating, acting like a versatile army within the body to do everything from transmit signals to kill invaders. And this book is an effective history of the slow unweaving of the proteins' secrets - but it just doesn't read quite well enough to be a good popular science book.

If you think of this as a history of science textbook, with lots of useful background and a good summary of the development of knowledge on proteins, you will have a good picture. It's quite interesting, has plenty of people in it, not just the science, and doesn't get too technical. But it's missing something.

In one word, it's: worthy.

If you specifically want to know about proteins, it's still to be recommended, but as the subtle combination of enlightenment and entertainment that is good popular science, it doesn't make it.

Also in hardback:

Reviewed by Martin O'Brien

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