The thrilling story of how scientists unlocked a new window onto how life works

From Nobel Prize winner Venki Ramakrishnan

‘Beyond superb’ Bill Bryson

‘A wonderful book’ Ian McEwan

Everyone knows about DNA, the essence of our being, the molecule where our genes reside. But DNA by itself is useless without a machine to decode the genetic information it contains. The ribosome is that machine. Venki Ramakrishnan tells the story of the race to uncover its enormously complex structure, a fundamental breakthrough that resolves an ancient mystery of life itself.