The Book Prize Index

The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology

Horace Freeland Judson

In this classic book, the distinguished science writer Horace Freeland Judson tells the story of the birth and early development of molecular biology in the US, the UK, and France. The fascinating story of the golden period from the revelation of the double helix of DNA to the cracking of the genetic code and first glimpses of gene regulation is told largely in the words of the main players, all of whom Judson interviewed extensively. The result is a book widely regarded as the best history of recent biological science yet published.

ScienceScience · high confidenceScience81 signalsLlm Classifier: Science -> ScienceOpen Library: Molecular biology -> ScienceOpen Library: History -> HistoryScience & DiscoveryEnvironment, Conservation & Pollution

Award History

0 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
National Book Award for Science HardcoverMajor1980FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • the US40%
    • the UK40%
    • France40%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    40 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 42%.