Genealogy Books - The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Good book for lay reader
Comment: Although occasionally going over my head on some of the science, this book provides an interesting
and thought provoking picture of human diversity and migrations.

He has an
occasionally anthropological error, but he is a geneticist first! I recommend this book highly.

Bonnie Shirley

Customer Rating:

Summary: Brilliant and way better done than the Seven Daughters of Eve is JOM
Comment: Spencer Wells really hit it on the scientific head bigtime with this dna book which excellently
chronicles the most fascinating and true scientific story ever. Unlike SDOE (which mostly only
discusses Europeans's origins) the JOM book explains how all the major peoples of the world got to
where they are now (europeans included). And yes Wells sticking just to hard facts (but being
enjoyable about it) beats by far the fluff often found in SDOE.

Customer Rating:

Summary: EXCITING!!!!
Comment: This read like a thriller. It was didffcult for me to put it down simply because I wanted to know
what was next. (Unfortunately, I had to put it down because the train was pulling into the station
and I had to get off)

I was very impressed that the wirting was not over my head. It
is definitly written with the layman in mind. Not too technical, but still sufficiently informative
that I now feel I understand the movement of mankind. It has prompted me to join the Genographic
Project along with my children and my Mother. We hope we can add to this fascinating story of
mankind.

Customer Rating:

Summary: "Journey of Man" falls short
Comment: Unlike other reviewers, I found this book to be muddled and the metaphors to be over-used to the
point of uselessness. At one point, the author compares early human migrations to "...squeezing
toothpaste from the tube, where climate is both the carrot and the stick in the scenario." I'm not
kidding. These two completely different analogies in a single sentence exemplify the superfluous use
of metaphors that bogs down the text. Wells would have done better to spend more time on explaining
genetics and human prehistory directly, rather than using metaphors to excess. I also question
whether this book is truly accessible to the average science reader. I have a doctorate in molecular
biology, and I sometimes had to fill in gaps with knowledge from my own education.

From
a scientific perspective, Wells includes genetic results from studies of both the Y chromosome and
mitochondrial DNA, as well as anthropological findings. This is important, as no single angle will
tell the complete story of human evolution. He seems to forget this, however, when he claims that
the Y chromosome provides a more accurate view of human migration and evolution. This really only
holds true for human males, despite what he says about "sexual politics".

I cannot in
good conscience recommend this book to anyone. Nevertheless, the use of genetics in understanding
human prehistory remains a fascinating topic, and if you are interested, I would refer you to the
many works of Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Brian Sykes.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Dr. Wells takes us along on a fascinating journey . . .
Comment: For a number of years I've spent a great deal of time doing paper trail genealogy. Often I have
wondered about my ancestors and the clans to which they belonged, who lived back beyond the reach of
written history - - - names, places and times I would never know.

Who were those
people? Where did they come from? Where had they trekked? What hardships had they endured? />
To find out more, I had DNA testing done on both my all-male and all-female lines. That
began a period of discovery that has been one of the most satisfying projects I've ever
undertaken.

Dr. Stephen Wells book "The Journey of Man" is the first book I would
recommend for others craving to know more about our distant past. Dr. Wells and his group have
defined this journey using data from DNA of people from around the world.

I also
highly recommend the DVD under the same title.

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