The fascination with biochemistry sparked by The Double Helix, the thrill of her first invitation to Cold Spring Harbor, and the melancholy of her last visit to the disgraced genius.

While we wait for Nathaniel Comfort’s upcoming biography of James Watson, Jennifer Doudna’s story in The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson offers a revealing lens on the scientist whose outstanding legacy is overshadowed by his offensive claims about intelligence and race. Doudna crossed paths with Watson three times — moments that shaped both her imagination and her opinion of the man who helped discover the structure of DNA.