Lots of History to Go With the Genetic Explorations I listened to this after finishing The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our GeneticLots of History to Go With the Genetic Explorations I listened to this after finishing The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry. Once again Sykes revisits history using the the tools of DNA and genetics to explore some common assumptions, this time about the origins of the people that populated the British Isles, namely the Picts, Celts, Romans, Normans, Angles, Saxons, Danes, Vikings, etc.
He gives a heavy dose of historical background on each of these groups before discussing the genetic studies done by his research team, which went around different parts of the British Isles, such as the different regions of England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, including the Islands such as the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands. They joined blood transfusion donation drives and set up shop at country fairs, asking to collect DNA samples from the local populaces in order to trace DNA through the matrilineal line via mitochondrial DNA (mDNA), along with patrilineal lines via the y-chromosome. What this reveals is a very fascinating and different set of data about bloodlines and heritage depending on which line you trace. If you follow mDNA back through the generations, you can trace it to specific female ancestors of different haplogroups thanks to the frequency of mutations in mDNA, whereas for y-chromosomes there is very little change over time, and there is also the Genghis Khan founder-effort, in which a dominant male line that fathers many descendants will dominate a given gene pool.
What we learn is that the Celtic-speaking peoples that first populated the British isles do not trace their heritage to the many waves of invaders in the past two millennia as is commonly thought, but rather entered the British Isles about 10,000 years ago when other neolithic farmers migrated across the land-bridge from Europe after the end of the most recent Ice Age, and that the various invaders, while intermingling with the local populations, did not decimate and replace them despite the common image of Viking, Norman, and Anglo-Saxon raiders killing all the men and ravaging all the women.
There is also the common misconception that the central European Celtic peoples of the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures in the neolithic age are the same peoples as the prehistoric Celtic peoples of the British isles, but Sykes suggests that while these groups may have shared similar languages, they are genetically distinct. He also spends a fair amount of time discussing the amount of Norse/Danish/Viking blood that has remained in the Orkney and Shetland islands and northern part of England, and how much Norman/Roman/Anglo-Saxon blood populated the Southern part of England. If you want to know more, I suggest you read the book. It's a fairly accessible style that doesn't overwhelm you with too many technical details of the DNA analysis, but provides plenty of explanation of the fundamentals so that you will understand why tracing male/female DNA lines produces such interesting and revealing results. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit....more
Well-Written Overview With a Definite Agenda That I Largely Agree With Rather than describe the book's contents, which have been summarized by thousandWell-Written Overview With a Definite Agenda That I Largely Agree With Rather than describe the book's contents, which have been summarized by thousands of others, I'd prefer to discuss the popularity among general readers and criticism from various experts/academics in the fields he touches upon in his book, and the criticism that his book is biased with his personal opinions.
Generally, if the book has captured the imagination of millions of readers, this is a good thing, especially in a day and age where peoples' attentions are so incredibly short and distracted by a thousand competing types of information. Any book that covers such big and important concepts as this and can command people's interest deserves respect, regardless of whether you agree or not. Stimulating discourse or making people rethink their assumptions is a great accomplishment. He doesn't need to provide a host of answers to the problems and issues he raises.
Criticisms by some readers: 1) Some experts in various fields find his arguments and conclusions too glib or sensational and lacking depth, and 2) He in not objective in his analysis, and has an agenda
My opinion: Well, when you are covering all of human history, and focusing on the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Technological Revolutions, you have to paint with a very broad brush. I thought he did a fantastic job of this. I found the discussions of various aspects of this development well-argued, and though I'm no expert in evolutionary biology or economics or linguistics or neural cognition, it seemed to make sense.
I also liked his take on how humanity tends to invest so fully into imagined concepts such as religion, money, political and social systems, that they take on a reality that we rarely question. In particular, the shift from polytheistic to monotheistic religions and the resultant lack of tolerance and zeal to exterminate rival views and religions struck me as very much on the money.
The shift to global capitalism and greater social and economic interdependence also was well-described, including all the pitfalls this raises in terms of depleting resources, enslaving workers in the service of those with the wealth & capital, and not contributing to happiness nearly as much as claimed.
He also is unapologetic in having an agenda, so it seems quite silly to complain the book is biased. Essentially all books, whether about history, politics, economics, biology, or religion, are inherently biased in the sense that the writer has opinions and they form the basis for their argument. How could it be any other way?
Now some have specifically said he was being disingenuous by pretending to be objective but sneaking in his biases on various subjects, such as his apparent distrust/dislike for the big monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and apparent favoring of less aggressive religions like Buddhism, but he makes it quite clear why he has this opinion, so if you disagree with that there's no problem with that, I'm sure he's not afraid of debating his position. The same goes for his negative view of meat-eating and industrialized farming. Of course it's an agenda - so what? He makes his case, and if you don't agree then you can write a book or paper to refute it.
There is also an element of criticism of traditional scholarship and questioning of the world's most deeply-embedded assumptions that it shares with the book that provided inspiration, Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. That was a truly phenomenal work of historical anthropology, taking a totally fresh look at the environmental influences and advantages/disadvantages that shaped the development of different civilizations through history. While I think that book is superior in terms of intellectual rigor and scholarship, I still think Harari's work is a worthy collection of ideas that questions many of our most cherished institutions and beliefs....more
First half is fascinating science, second half speculative fiction Bryan Sykes, a geneticist at the University of Oxford, has specialized in the study First half is fascinating science, second half speculative fiction Bryan Sykes, a geneticist at the University of Oxford, has specialized in the study of mitochondrial DNA through the matriarchal side to explore human evolution and the origins of different human populations. He began by extracting and multiplying ancient DNA samples from fossil bones, and then was involved with mapping the genome for the prehistoric Otzi the Ice Man, discovered perfectly preserved in the Italian alps, who lived around the third millennium BC.
This first half of this book is a fascinating explanation of DNA, RNA, chromosomes, and the human genome in the context of our earliest origins, and with a focus on the seven major mitochondrial haplogroups that can be traced back to seven clan members and that form the original female ancestors of all modern Europeans. It's a daring premise, but as he sticks to the science of genetics and explains it very clearly for the layman science enthusiast, I felt like I understood it during the course of the book. He talks about the efforts to determine if the final remains of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia of the Romanovs, murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918, were actually legitimate, and delves into a number of other examples to illustrate the power of mitochondrial DNA to reveal the true origins of various European ethnic groups over time.
The second half is quite a departure, as he names the seven "clan mothers" Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine and then imagines what their lives would have been like in early prehistory. It wasn't what I was expecting from this book on human genetics, as it is largely speculative although based on all the archeological evidence of the living conditions and artifacts and flora and fauna prevailing at those time, along with their likely cultural and social group behavior based on what we know of prehistorical tribes. Again, it was interesting but a much weaker part of the book, and when you consider how important the science of genetics is, I would have preferred that he focus his book on that. It's still a very interesting book and fit well with my recent reading in the area of evolutionary biology and prehistory. ...more
A Classic Work, But Game Theory Really Just Wore Me Down I've read several books by Richard Dawkins, including The God Delusion, The Blind Watchmaker,A Classic Work, But Game Theory Really Just Wore Me Down I've read several books by Richard Dawkins, including The God Delusion, The Blind Watchmaker, The Ancestor's Tale, and The Greatest Show on Earth. Strangely, I've only now gotten around to his first and most well-known book, The Selfish Gene, and listened to the 30th edition on audiobook as the original was written waaaayyy back in 1976, an eternity when it comes to books on science. To his credit, Dawkins has added numerous end notes for each chapter that amend or expand on the ideas to reflect newer research. The audiobook is also narrated by himself and his wife, which is a nice touch.
Nonetheless this was my least favorite of his books, simply because it was impossible to maintain interest when it deep-dived into Game Theory in terms of gene survival strategies. I don't question his conclusions, as I have no expertise or knowledge in that area. It was just a painful slog to listen to the drawn-out and detailed discussions of cooperation, competition, percentages of survival, blah, blah, blah. Perhaps I've been fooling myself in thinking that I will find anything relating to evolutionary and genetic sciences interesting and mind-expanding. Or maybe I just felt cold listening to how clinical gene mechanisms are in the endless struggle for survival, replication, and mutation. I much prefer to hear about the evolutionary strategies of plants, animals, and humans, which I can relate to, rather than DNA and mitochondria, which aren't nearly as warm and fuzzy....more
First Half on the Genetic Study of Human Prehistory Excellent, Second Half on Recent Human Evolution/Genetic Trends Weak A tale of two books in one. ThFirst Half on the Genetic Study of Human Prehistory Excellent, Second Half on Recent Human Evolution/Genetic Trends Weak A tale of two books in one. The first half is a truly fascinating and well-researched exploration of the prehistory of early human species (around six distinct species have been identified) that split off from earlier chimp/human ancestors, using genetics as a powerful new tool to illuminate areas of controversy (did early human species interbreed) or lack of clarity on the timing of when early homo sapiens spread from Africa (genetic evidence in fossils can be much more accurate than carbon-dating).
Specifically Wade discusses how geneticists use mitochondrial DNA (only inherited from the mother) and the Y chromosome (which a father passes onto his sons unchanged, since it does not exchange genetic information) to trace lineage, mutation, and genetic drift. This part of the book really captured my imagination, and though one of his conclusions seems to be out-of-date, namely that Neanderthals did not interbreed with Homo Sapiens, as apparently recent genetic studies have revealed that our human genome contains trace elements of Neanderthal DNA and more of Homo Erectus as well, though I haven't read the material first-hand. Still, really mind-expanding content. I also found the links with historical linguistics very fascinating, especially as the book mentioned one of my father's linguist colleagues at University of Hawaii, Derek Bickerton.
The latter chapters of the book are far less integrated or convincing. They focus on more recent evolution of mankind, such as the contention that closed communities such as Ashkenazi Jews in Medieval Europe were restricted to difficult intellectual work like accounting and thus developed a higher IQ over time, which has manifested itself in recent history in their very high ratio of Nobel Prize winners in scientific fields, Field Prize for mathematics, high ratio of students in Ivy League universities, and high representation in advanced field such as medicine, law, finance, engineering, etc. It's certainly an interesting area to discuss, though of course very controversial as it implies other ethnic groups are weaker in these fields, but I still think that stems more from culture, education and financial background than genetics. These later chapters were more like magazine articles and less cohesive with the larger theme. But still thought-provoking nonetheless....more
Two Distopias, Gibson Style: Dazzling Ideas, But Readers Have to Do the Heavy Lifting I haven't read any William Gibson since his Sprawl Trilogy (NeuroTwo Distopias, Gibson Style: Dazzling Ideas, But Readers Have to Do the Heavy Lifting I haven't read any William Gibson since his Sprawl Trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) in the 1980s and The Difference Engine (co-authored with Bruce Stirling) in 1990. Since then I've known about his Bridge Trilogy (Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties) in the 1990s and Blue Ant Trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) in the 2000s, but while curious I didn't bite. From others I heard that he was focusing more on the social impact of technology and media on contemporary or near future society, and I wasn't in the mood for that at the time.
A voracious reader friend of mine said I really should give The Peripheral (2014) a try as it's both a near future dystopia in the 2030s set after a series of environmental disasters, wars, and overall deterioration in global societies and economies as an extension of existing trends, and a further future in the 2070s where very little is left of conventional societies, with only very wealthy enclaves and competing corporations, nanotechnology, and quantum tunneling that allows data communication with the past, creating new quantum continuums, named 'stubs" that can be exploited for profit etc.
Frankly, I've always found Gibson's books difficult to enjoy, both the characters and plot-lines, due to his lean, clinical, and cerebral writing style that only provides glimpses and sketches of a much larger, very complex world and storyline. He wants his readers to work to connect the dots on their own, think through the implications of new technologies and trends, and piece things together. It's very much the "throw them off the deep-end" technique, so really isn't suited to casual reading. His characters are often considered difficult to connect with, but I did think the main characters here, Flynn, Burton, Conner, Wilf, Cherise, and Lowbeer, are all well-developed and interesting.
The only problem is that I now only have the time & energy for audiobooks, and trying to keep track of events that was is a lot harder than print books. So it was only after I saw and enjoyed Amazon's drama series of The Peripheral that I decided to give this audiobook another chance. And the plot is still so complex that I had to read the Wiki entry to have any chance of keeping things straight. Is that the sign of a successful book when the reader needs a crib sheet and drama just to get a grip on it? Not sure, but the story and future extrapolation were certainly worthy of the drama treatment, even if many people will admit they could hardly understand what's happening~...more
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