This is the first book on this topic that I have read in its entirety. It began with a friend recommending a movie that the book's author, Spencer Wells, made of his journeys across the globe, where he is seen retracing the ancient migration routes that lead all the way from Africa to the Earth's farthest corners. At first I had seen the movie on Youtube. But I liked it so much that I ordered the DVD, whose title is the same: "Journey of Man" (PBS). After some deliberation, I decided also to order Spencer Wells' book, since I figured it would give a better explanation of some of the things mentioned in the movie - things that were only mentioned cursorily there, about which I now desired to know more.
At first I found it strange that the author does not mention the "haplogroups" that are so frequently mentioned in the media, with names such as A, B, C, I, J, N, O, to mention a few. Instead he uses a system of "markers" with names such as M168, M89, M45, M130, M172, M173, etc. Well, I then decided to forget about the haplogroups, A, B, C, etc, and just focus on the text as it is written in the book. I then found that Wells does a very good job in explaining man's genealogical tree for the last 5o,ooo years, where his M-markers turn out to label the places where one of the tree's branches split in two. The M-marker is then explained as the technical name of a certain mutation that took place at a certain point in time, in a certain geographic location, within a certain man, whose male descendants all inherit the same M-marker. Thus, anybody who carries this M-marker within his Y-chromosome, of necessity has to be a descendant in direct line from the man whose genome first underwent the particular mutation. This is then the basis that is used to construct man's genealogical tree, as well as his migration routes "out of Africa". If one assumes that the "tree" sprouts new branches at regular intervals, one may also calculate approximately when the mutation-event happened, and thus one knows approximately when this particular ancestor lived.
Wells presents simple explanations of the basic concepts of this science, expressed in language that the non-specialist can easily understand. Unfortunately, due to the author's wish to keep the explanations as simple and as brief as possible, he some times has to resort to very general language, that imparts a certain vagueness to many of his sentences. Hence, the book is not really "a quick read". In fact, many sentences have to be pondered for several minutes, before a certain sense of what it can mean, dawns upon the attentive reader. Another thing that slows down the speed at which the material can be absorbed, are the many geographical references to places that most people have never heard about, be they in Australia or in Siberia. One then has to stop and fetch a good world-atlas, in order to be able to follow the author on his journey. These things that I have mentioned, should, however, not be seen as negatives, but rather as positives, because it forces the reader to think for himself, which is the best way to learn new things. (Texts that are too user-friendly have a nasty tendency to fade quickly from one's memory). All in all, I think Wells has given an excellent and simple survey of the subject, accessible to anybody who wishes to follow the author on this mental journey. In this process the DVD is a good help in creating vivid images of the various stations of the journey.
An example from the book is on page 33, where he mentions that "mitochondrial Eve" was a woman who lived in Africa 15o,ooo years ago, and from whom all humans alive today descend. On page 54 he mentioned that there is also a "Y-DNA Adam", who also lived in Africa. But he lived only 59,ooo years ago ! Hence we get the paradoxical result that Adam never met Eve. This fact will certainly cause any attentive reader to pause and ponder. But the author gives no real answer to the paradox. He merely remarks that "men loose their soup recipe more quickly than women". ( Soup recipe is a metaphor the author uses to explain how genetic information is passed from generation to generation). However, at the end of the book, on page 178, the following resolution of the paradox is presented, namely that the number of men who breed has been smaller than the number of women who breed. Wells describes the phenomenon as "lineage loss". My take on this, after reading Wells' explanation, is that all branches of the genealogical tree have a finite length. But the male branches (Y-DNA) are shorter than the female branches (mtDNA).
I'd also like to mention the very useful drawing of the "M-tree" on page 181, and the world-map with migration routes on pages 182-183. They make the reading of the book a lot easier. All in all, I give 5 stars to this book. It was an important reading experience for me.
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Reviews with images
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A wonderful adventure!
A wonderful book that is a supplement to the highly respected TV series - not a rehash. This book takes you on your very own journey from the very first pages to rediscover humanity.Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be an amazing ride!
Top reviews from other countries
Pomaroli Edouard
Understanding our Odyssey
Reviewed in Germany on November 14, 2016Eilleen
I loved reading the book as it was easy to follow
Reviewed in Canada on September 13, 2014Ms. C. B. Mclaglen
The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by Spenser Wells
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2014