This story is the personal narration of the experiences the author gained as a student, professor, and enthusiastic experimenter trying to understand how cells fulfill one of the most primal and fundamental functions: protein synthesis.

Through the perspective of an immigrant in America and later in England, as well as that of a physicist diving into the world of biology, his story captures the feelings of a "foreigner" yearning to become part of the scientific and social world he observes.

However, there is also the scientific discovery itself: the structures of the biological machine that reads the genetic code and translates the sequence of its nucleotides into chains of amino acids that constitute all the proteins essential for life on the planet.

The ribosome, consisting of a large and a small subunit, is showcased here in all its glory: the author's research work uncovered the molecular basis of the decoding mechanism of the small ribosomal subunit, as well as how various antibiotics inhibit the function of the bacterial ribosome, thereby eliminating microbial infections.

The process of determining this subunit, from the initial efforts with the individual building blocks to later heroic attempts at purifying and crystallizing the entire small subunit, is an exciting story of ingenuity, luck, and ultimately, success.

From the preface by Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020.