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The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by [Wells, Spencer]

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey Kindle Edition

by Spencer Wells (Author)

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Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races?

Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind.

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Length: 230 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Product details

File Size: 2818 KB
Print Length: 230 pages
Publisher: Random House (October 31, 2012)
Publication Date: October 31, 2012
Language: English
ASIN: B009MYAOQU
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,490 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #110 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Genetics
- #340 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Evolution
- #555 in Books > Medical Books > Basic Sciences > Genetics

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OLD1mIKE

Worth The Effort but Tedious

June 9, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Well written. Presents the evolution of modern man by following the DNA history of the Y Chromosome (man vs women's DNA). Interesting. Worth the read. Aimed at the Lay reader. I am glad I read the book. But also a bit tedious and required some effort to stay connected. I have a general feeling about the topic but couldn't carry on a conversation about it. Starting with the DNA Adam (M168 chromosome), then moving on to the next DNA branch (M130 and M89). Eventually its the story of how man exited Africa and populated the world by following the sequence of the DNA chromosomes. Apparently a companion book to a TV documentary. I thought a simple Time Line in Chapter 1, showing things like Upper/Middle Palaeolthic periods, Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens, Homo Erectus etc would have been helpful to me.

12 people found this helpful

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William Divale, Ph.D.

Great history of modern humans

November 22, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great book and very well written. I am a professional cultural anthropologist who just retired after 42 years of teaching. I had not paid much attention to the new work on genetics done in physical anthropology. This new research changes our picture of modern human origins completely. Spencer Wells does a great job of bringing the findings of several disciplines together to make a very strong argument. We all come from Africa - that is well known - but all modern humans stem from the same African woman who lived 150,000 years ago. Our spread through-out the planet out of Africa began only 60,000 years ago. He shows that by following the coastal route out of Africa our human ancestors could move rapidly across the planet. The old view is that we evolved from Homo Erectus and then Neanderthal man, but it appears that we just wiped them out, although there was some interbreeding. If you find this review hard to believe, then read the book.

9 people found this helpful

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Bernard Z. Friedlander

A Wonderful Clarification for Those Who Really Want to Know The Basics of Human Proliferation Throughut Planet Earth !

June 8, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is excellent in its field, and it would have gained its fifth star if the scientific foundations of genetics and genetic variability had been explained with a few more concessions to educated general readers who need help with the technical intricacies of genetic variation.
Except for that minor warning, Spencer Wells has done a very great service to those of us who seek a clearer understanding of the details of how our species came to occupy all of Earth, after our very high-risk emergence from Eastern Africa about 60,000 years ago.
The importance Wells attributes to Darwinian thinking about the application to homo sapiens of variability and selection to our emergence and proliferation is profound. Two key points stand out with great clarity: the very small populations of homo sapiens that survived the hazards that their varied groups encountered, before the development of agriculture, and the very high mortality that prevailed among those groups which faced the hazards of their journeys.
It seems ironic now, when our human expansion and "conquest" of Earth raises serious doubts about our species' capacity to continue to survive, that there was so long a period when it seems remarkable that homo sapiens survived at all.
Bernard Z. Friedlander, PhD, Madison, WI

8 people found this helpful

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PBH

... is a very scholarly discussion and I find it best read in very small bites

October 27, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a very scholarly discussion and I find it best read in very small bites. However, the information contained within is to be trusted and it contains a lot of surprises in terms of our common genetic history. This book is a "must" for anybody interested, however, remotely in the history of DNA.

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prince of nerds

Good intro to an interesting subject.

April 22, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I wanted a nice easy primer into the field of genetic history. This book served that purpose well. Not overly much detail is gone into, it sticks to presenting the large overview of things, which is what I wanted and expected.

Some reviewers complain about the quality of the maps, in my paperback version they were all good, I had no problem reading them.

Pros:
Nice primer into the field of genetic history, neither too scholarly nor too superficial. For me anyway, YMMV.
The small physical size of the paperback is convenient.

Cons:
It's only useful as an introduction into the subject, not for indepth research.
It focuses almost exclusively on the Y chromosome data, little information from other sources is presented.
The names of the haplogroups are given as M168, M89, M9, M45 etc rather than the more familiar CT, F, K, P etc. The book offers no translation between the naming schemes. Wikipedia makes that translation easy, though.
Possibly the most important page is the map on page 182, it should have been at the very front, the whole book needs to be read with that map in mind.

On the balance, I find 4 stars to be right.

4 people found this helpful

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mark seligman

Pretty good story of Humanity

December 3, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is an interesting but not gripping recounting of the biology and ancestry of human beings as traced primarily through the Y chromosone that identifies paternal lineage. It is probably worth 3.5 stars, but I think that the rating system tends to overexpress the views of people who love a book and the people who hate it resulting in few mid range reviews.
The technical aspects of DNA analysis are presented in an easily understandable manner. One does not need a PhD in biology to get this book.
The story is told straigthforwardly maybe too straightforward; for instance a friend had his DNA run to discover a significant contribution of African genes mixed in with his Irish ones. It turns out that during the 8th century the Vikings actually brought Africans to Ireland. This book seems to gloss over some of these events in order to keep the story clearer. I suspect that some controversies in the field are muted a bit; every scientific field has controversies.
The story of Kennebec man seems a little out of date, and that did make me wonder if there were other things that might need some updates.

8 people found this helpful

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