Book excerpt: Present at the Flood tells the story of the rise of structural molecular biology-proteins and DNA-by immersing the reader in the original papers, written by the scientists who actually did the work. 187 pages from 42 essential scientific papers are reprinted, along with diagrams and commentaries to make them intelligible to the modern reader. The book achieves a personal note because the author was a worker in later years of the field and knew many of the key participants .