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Reviews
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David Reich
qwu's review
4.0
This book marked my final reading challenge of 2018. The first part was difficult for me, I must admit, in spite of the high school biology I still have in me.
Starting from the second part, once the biological side has turned into more sociologically related, the author starts linking genetics to racism and sexism, it makes more sense to me.
From Neanderthal to modern humans, from Africa to Europe and Asia, we have come a long way. And I do not ask myself how or why I am in this world, since, well technically, my parents' DNA made me. I am pretty sure I am no more special than anyone else in this world, either.
But the more you decode human's genes, the more confused you will be. The closer you are to humanity, maybe.
Starting from the second part, once the biological side has turned into more sociologically related, the author starts linking genetics to racism and sexism, it makes more sense to me.
From Neanderthal to modern humans, from Africa to Europe and Asia, we have come a long way. And I do not ask myself how or why I am in this world, since, well technically, my parents' DNA made me. I am pretty sure I am no more special than anyone else in this world, either.
But the more you decode human's genes, the more confused you will be. The closer you are to humanity, maybe.
lizzie04's review against another edition
informative
3.5
Very cool interesting stuff but a bit dry at times (or I'm just dumb). Reich did help shed a lot of my ignorance about this topic, as I previously thought human ancestry was pretty linear and homogenous up until a couple hundred years ago (a misconception Reich addresses heavily). I had not previously put much thought into what (or who) made those populations in the first place, and how current populations/races worldwide are just the latest in a very ancient process of interbreeding. This was a really random rabbit hole for me to fall into but I enjoyed it.
tophat8855's review
4.0
I’d Say 4.5. Very balanced and self-aware and I learned a lot so human migrations. I’ve done one of those DNA test things but not with the major companies that don’t give you the rights to your data, so the results were always affected by the smaller dataset, which is fine. But if you’ve used one of the big DNA test companies, the last chapter is useful for thinking shot how accurate they are and way their results mean.
Looking forward to more data shot missions in the far east and the Americas since we don’t have a lot so those right now.
Looking forward to more data shot missions in the far east and the Americas since we don’t have a lot so those right now.