Discussion of laboratory facilities, personnel, competition, and working atmosphere at Herbert Boyer's laboratory in the early 1970s; early work to purify restriction enzymes and plasmids and clone DNA; biosafety concerns; plasmid vector development, approval and certification, and conflicts surrounding dissemination to colleagues; perspectives on division between science and industry; opinions on scientists who merit the Nobel Prize; comments on Herbert Boyer, Stanley N. Cohen, Robert Helling, Ernest Jawetz, Art Riggs, William J. Rutter, and others.