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Loading... Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Pastby David Reich
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This is the least satisfying of the books I've read/listened to about genetics and the history of human evolution. In many ways it's excellent. Reich is voracious in absorbing and telling us about other people's research as well as his own. His ego isn't tied up in his own theories; he's enthusiastic in reporting on research results that overturn his own theories and prior work. In many ways, it's both informative and enjoyable. And yet. Reich seems utterly unaware that he has any biases. He says he's arguing against racism, being very clear that our traditional ideas about race just have no basis in science. Then he goes on to say that the best way to study human genetics is by large population groups, and that some large modern population groups have been separated long enough for significant differences of cognition and temperament to exist. He argues that a good way to test this is by intelligence testing and the rate of completing advanced education. There's no science to support this. On the contrary, there's substantial evidence that socioeconomic background, parental educational attainment, and the cultural biases of admission requirements and intelligence tests, have a large impact on testing outcomes and educational attainment. Reich also offers in defense of his argument for possible significant cognition and temperament differences between large, modern population groups the "fact" that no one finds it's controversial to say that there are important biological differences between men and women that produce profound differences in temperament and behavior..... This is of course not correct, and science doesn't support the claim. But he makes this claim, and says the same should be true of discussing differences between large population groups, and that resistance to this comes from "political correctness." Moreover, he actively resents the resistance of aboriginal peoples, especially in the Americas, to genomic research on their genetics, dismissing out of hand the idea that any substantial harm has ever come from it. Well, in the real world where the aboriginal populations get to have their say, this resistance to genomic research comes from having been lied to about what their genetic material would be used for. In at least one case, they found out how their genetic material had really been used by someone reading a published paper and recognizing the Native American group, and telling them about it. I read about that case in one of the other books in my recent pursuit of what genetics has taught us about our history. It's further worth noting that, while resistance to genomic research is strong among Native Americans, when approached respectfully by researchers who are open, make limited requests, and are very clear about what they'll do, they can sometimes get agreement. And when those scientists respect the commitments they've made, they increase the chances of getting agreement the next time. But it takes a long time to rebuild broken trust, and Reich asks if he should really respect the current laws and agreements on doing genetic research on Native American genetic material. That's not healthy for science or social and political relations. Overall, an interesting book, but with some serious concerns.. I bought this audiobook. If you are love the topics of early human history and hominid evolution, then this book is the one for you. Reich is a researcher right in the middle of the tectonic changes occurring in this area. The book is comprehensive, informative and very readable. He brings the layperson into this field and you come away with such a great perspective of early human history, evolution and culture. The only reason that I give it four starts instead of five is that it is a little too focused on what Reich's lab is doing. Understandable, but I was hoping for a somewhat more balanced view of all researchers in the area. I highly recommend this book to people who are interested in these topics and those who want to get an excellent perspective of humankind and how we came to be.
The overriding lesson ancient DNA teaches is that the population in any one place has changed dramatically many times since the great human post-ice age expansion, and that recognition of the essentially mongrel nature of humanity should override any notion of some mystical, longstanding connection between people and place. We are all, to use Theresa May’s derisive label, “citizens of nowhere”. The Beaker people replaced 90% of the population of Britain around 4,500 years ago. Related to this is the knowledge that all life, from its beginnings, has been an essentially improvisatory, impure process. As Reich puts it: “Ideologies that seek a return to a mythical purity are flying in the face of hard science.” His findings have important medical implications, too. For instance, his research in India has shown the profound consequences of caste-system inbreeding. There is an abundance of recessive diseases – both partners in some couples carry mutant genes from way back in the lineage. In fact, such populations make gene hunting easier because genes causing recessive conditions come with characteristic markers. Reich’s overall picture will, in time, acquire much greater detail – just as Darwin’s great study was a beginning not an end – but we should be grateful to him and his large team of co-workers (including his wife, science writer Eugenie Reich, who had a big role in the book’s creation) for putting the essential story before us now. It is thrilling in its clarity and its scope. Has as a reference guide/companionAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
"A groundbreaking book about how technological advances in genomics and the extraction of ancient DNA have profoundly changed our understanding of human prehistory while resolving many long-standing controversies. Massive technological innovations now allow scientists to extract and analyze ancient DNA as never before, and it has become clear--in part from David Reich's own contributions to the field--that genomics is as important a means of understanding the human past as archeology, linguistics, and the written word. Now, in The New Science of the Human Past, Reich describes with unprecedented clarity just how the human genome provides not only all the information that a fertilized human egg needs to develop but also contains within it the history of our species. He delineates how the Genomic Revolution and ancient DNA are transforming our understanding of our own lineage as modern humans; how genomics deconstructs the idea that there are no biologically meaningful differences among human populations (though without adherence to pernicious racist hierarchies); and how DNA studies reveal the deep history of human inequality--among different populations, between the sexes, and among individuals within a population"-- No library descriptions found. |
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If we aspire to treat all individuals with respect regardless of the extraordinary differences that exist among individuals within a population, it should not be so much more of an effort to accommodate the smaller but still significant average differences across populations. ( )