In mid-December last year, I sat mesmerized by a conversation between James Watson. E.O. Wilson and Charlie Rose on the Charlie Rose show (PBS). In paying a tribute to Dr. Watson, E.O. Wilson called out what he saw as the three most meaningful milestones in the history of science that changed fundamentally how people saw the world around them (structure of DNA being one of them). I'll save the detail for another post, but in responding to Dr. Wilson, Dr. Watson called out the enigma of memory as the fourth major milestone ahead of us. That Dr. Watson believes that we can and will achieve this milestone was enough to make me dig out all my old neuroscience books (Richard Restak, Oliver Sacks) and the notes I kept while puzzling over what was known and what was not known about the brain.
So when I arrived at PC Forum a day early this week and while walking through Warwick's bookstore in La Jolla found Eric Kandel's recently published book "In Search of Memory", I was utterly delighted at the serendipity. Dr. Kandel won the Nobel prize for his work on the cellular and molecular process of memory. Despite being here on official business, I could not resist reading it immediately. He's a good plain spoken writer and in the first 10 pages does what I wish many other science writers would do - he puts the science he is talking about in context, succinctly. He describes the evolution of Biology from a descriptive science to a coherent science with the articulation of the structure of DNA and speaks to the role of molecular biology in unifying three disparate ideas evolution :
- Evolution
- Genetics as the basis of inheritance and the
- Theory that the cell is the basic unit of living things
by focusing on the gene and the its action through the manufacture of proteins and its role as the underlying actor in all three dramas.
Wonderful passage as well on the role of memory in intelligence and shaping human experience. You can also purchase a tape of some of Dr. Kandel's appearances on the Charlie Rose show. While you're there, you could also pick up a copy of the Watson/Wilson interview - a rare and wonderful interview with two people at the pinnacle of their profession, who love what they do, talking about the world from their point of view with a clarity that only masters can achieve.
