The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
by Spencer Wells
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Description
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, the author reveals how developments in the show more 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, this book is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I participated in the National Genographic Project in part to give my father and brother a unique gift for Father's Day. (Apparently our ancestors had wandered in off the steppes after the last Ice Age.) Engagingly written, "The Journey of Man" provides one some sense of, and a greater appreciation for, everyone's deep ancestry. A must for any genealogy library.
The book presents a picture of man's migrations between 60,000 and 10,000 years ago. It is a companion book with the TV special and provides more background into the scientific rational of the study and its conclusions. It is presented in a manner quite understandable to the lay person.
a great companion to the national geographic's videos. mostly reader-friendly. the graphics, though, are bad.
Extremely intriguing.
A genetic odyssey
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ThingScore 75
The Journey of Man is fascinating and oozes charm. The basic science isn't explained as clearly as it could have been -there's a lot of unhelpful analogising about soup recipes, and the important bits fly by with indecent haste - but it doesn't matter much, because Wells simply overwhelms you with enthusiasm. It's like being assailed by Peter Snow. The late Stephen Jay Gould was once like show more this, before he contracted a bad case of literature. In spirit, The Journey of Man reminds me a lot of Gould's inspirational first book, Ever Since Darwin . I just hope that Wells's next is another raw, gatling-gun affair, complete with dodgy grammar and unhelpful stuff about soup. Who needs literature when science is this much fun? show less
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Author Information
3+ Works 1,493 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
- Original publication date
- 2002
- Related movies
- Journey of Man (2003 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.
Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo - Dedication
- To my wife, Trendell, and our daughters, Margot and Sasha
(Y-chromosomes are overrated anyway . . .) - First words
- Preface
Most of us can name our grandparents, many our great-grandparents, and some our great-great grandparents.
Creation myths can be found at the core of all religions. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Once the document of our journey has been lost, it will, like the footprints of our ancestors as they left Africa to colonize the globe, be gone forever.
- Publisher's editor
- Stefan McGrath
- Blurbers
- Lewontin, Richard; Lavers, Chris; Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca; Cann, Rebecca; Renfrew, Colin; Flannery, Tim
- Original language
- English UK
Classifications
- Genres
- Anthropology, Science & Nature, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 599.938 — Natural sciences & mathematics Animals Mammals Homo sapiens Genetics, sex and age characteristics, evolution Evolution
- LCC
- GN281 .W44 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Anthropology Anthropology Physical anthropology. Somatology Human evolution
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 662
- Popularity
- 43,312
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.97)
- Languages
- 8 — English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 6
