The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
by: Spencer Wells
List Price: $14.95
Prices subject to change.
You Pay Only: $10.17
You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.938
EAN: 9780812971460
ISBN: 0812971469
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: February 17, 2004
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: February 17, 2004
Sales Rank: 11165
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Related Items:
- Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Project
- Journey of Man
- The Seven Daughters of Eve
- Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland
- Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins
- see more
Editorial Review:
Product 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, 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.
Amazon.com Review:
Spencer Wells traces human evolution back to our very first ancestor in The Journey of Man. Along the way, he sums up the explosive effect of new techniques in genetics on the field of evolutionary biology and all available evidence from the fossil record. Wells's seemingly sexist title is purposeful: he argues that the Y chromosome gives us a unique opportunity to follow our migratory heritage back to a sort of Adam, just as earlier work in mitochondrial DNA allowed the identification of Eve, mother of all Homo sapiens. While his descriptions of the advances made by such luminary scientists as Richard Lewontin and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza can be dry, Wells comes through with sparkling metaphors when it counts, as when he compares genetic drift to a bouillabaisse recipe handed down through a village's generations. Though finding our primal male is an exciting prospect, the real revolution Wells describes is racial. Or rather, nonracial, as he reiterates the scientific truth that our notions of what makes us different from each other are purely cultural, not based in biology. The case for an 'out of Africa' scenario of human migration is solid in this book, though Wells makes it clear when he is hypothesizing anything controversial. Readers interested in a fairly technical, but not overwhelming, summary of the remarkable conclusions of 21st-century human evolutionary biology will find The Journey of Man a perfect primer. --Therese Littleton
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- the journey of man: a genetic odysseyThis book is not only interesting, but well written and based in hard science, with fresh information ... Read More
Rating:
- DNA based human migrationA very nice book if one is interested in understanding how DNA analysis is being used to trace human migration ... Read More
Rating:
- Too dumbed-downThis was a major letdown. While one might be somewhat entertained by it, you won't come away from it with any understanding ... Read More
Rating:
- Great Companion to the PBS Video!I came to know about Dr Wells' work through the PBS documentary and I made sure that I got it on video so that I could slowly ... Read More
Rating:
- really interestingI really got a lot out of this book--it's a bit of a dry read at times, and some of the genetic science gets a little bit heavy ... Read More
Browse for similar items by category:
- Anthropology - Social Sciences - Nonfiction - Subjects - Books - Physical
- Basic Sciences - Medical - Professional & Technical - Subjects - Books - Genetics
- Evolution - Professional Science - Professional & Technical - Subjects - Books - Genetics
- Evolution - Science - Subjects - Books - Genetics
- Evolution - Science - Subjects - Books - General
Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.