Spencer Wells (1) (1969–)

Another early reviewer win.

I found this book absolutely fascinating. I have a family member participating in the National Genographic Program and I really enjoyed reading about the genesis of the program and its goals for the future. The one gripe I had was the difficulty in reading the charts, but as someone who works in publishing, I know that advanced readers' copies always have low-resolution art, so I wasn't surprised by this as it's always the case. I'll just go the Web site of the show more project and see what's there in terms of charts and maps and such.

The case studies were also interesting in providing meaty stories of specific haplogroups. And the specifics in the back of each haplogroup were great, especially the lists of each marker leading up to the current one.

I'd wanted to become part of the project before, but now I'm definitely going to take part. I have a fairly good idea, based on what's prevalent in what areas, what haplogroup I'll fall into, but I always could be one of those very odd cases. One never knows. show less

After reading Wells’ The Journey of Man and loving it, I couldn’t wait to dig into Pandora’s Seed, which promised to illuminate how “advanced” the hunter-gatherer societies were and what modern man can learn from these times for sustainability. Where there were a plethora of interesting ideas and facts, I must admit the book never grabbed me for a couple of reasons.

As I said, there are fascinating ideas and much to learn from this book for sure. Who wouldn’t be interested in show more discovering how the world’s population explosion today has its root in the ending of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the dawn of agricultural society? Whose ears (or eyes in this case) wouldn’t perk up at the contention that modern society is a breeding ground for illness and disease that was totally foreign to the Paleolithic era. I know I was grabbed by Wells’ claim that our modern style of living fosters conflict and war unheard of in hunter-gatherer societies. These were just a few of the gems in this book, but getting to those gems is where the problem lay for me.

One issue I had with Pandora’s Seed was the feeling of reading for long stretches not quite sure why I was reading about whatever the current topic was or what point the author was trying to make. In all fairness, the point always became clear eventually, but throughout the book, I had a constant nagging feeling of being just the tiniest bit lost.

This disoriented feeling seemed to be compounded by another feature of the book. Throughout, Wells raises another topic and tells us that to learn more about the topic, he (and the reader) must go here – here being either another time, another place, or both. The ‘tale’ jumps around so frequently, the reader could be excused for claiming jet lag. He skips between centuries and parts of the world, saying in order to understand one idea, we have to go…halfway around the world or back 70,000 years. I was dizzy sometimes wondering where I was or when it was, but more importantly, why I was there. The text seemed disjointed, perhaps, too ambitious, and I ended up confused a lot of the time as to the author’s point. Eventually, he would make it, but by that time, I didn’t care.

In addition, I think I was expecting some grand ideas on how to deal with the fix modern humans have gotten themselves into, and there also, I was a felt a letdown from a lack of concrete solutions. I mean, let’s face it – if put to a vote, who would opt for returning to hunting for game and scavenging for berries after they’ve seen Whole Foods and Safeway? Certainly, we can want less, which is Wells’ ultimate advice, but I already knew this without reading this book.

So, in the end, while the book has some interesting ideas, its conclusions and solutions are hardly groundbreaking show less

I just read Al Gore's 'The Future' before reading this. The two books are closely aligned aligned, although Pandora's Seed uses memorable examples and a voice that captures the reader and carries it along. Many of the same examples are sited. I actually prefer this to the other...

A great layperson's view of the incredible genome project undertaken by Nat Geo and an incredibly talented group of scientists. I've seen Spencer Wells in person, and i think the only thing he does better than lecture is write. He makes a fabulously complicated scientific discipline fascinating, readable, and truly exciting.

It's a story of science, but Wells makes it a story of individuals and families, giving it a layperson scale. It's such a great reminder that we are all family.