A review by laurastewies
Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Pääbo
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I find it rather strange how many reviewers here seem disappointed that a memoir contains the story of a man’s life. This isn’t meant to be a scientific paper(he has published plenty of those) nor is the audience other scientists who work in the field (although I’m sure there is plenty for them to enjoy as well).
This is not a text book on Neanderthals. It is the story of how he discovered the Neanderthal genome. That story did not exclusively happen in the lab.
As someone who does not have a science degree and who is normally more interested in the social sciences I thought this book was excellent. It explain sciencenific concepts in a way that did not assume knowledge, nor talk down to the reader. Even when I didn’t understand the technicalities he was explaining I understood what he was doing in each experiment and why.
The story of his life and his musings on what it means to be human enriched the science, helping me better understand the motives of his work, and I’ll alway find it easier to engage with complex topics if I understand the person engaging with them.
5/5, likely to be one of my favorite books of the year.
This is not a text book on Neanderthals. It is the story of how he discovered the Neanderthal genome. That story did not exclusively happen in the lab.
As someone who does not have a science degree and who is normally more interested in the social sciences I thought this book was excellent. It explain sciencenific concepts in a way that did not assume knowledge, nor talk down to the reader. Even when I didn’t understand the technicalities he was explaining I understood what he was doing in each experiment and why.
The story of his life and his musings on what it means to be human enriched the science, helping me better understand the motives of his work, and I’ll alway find it easier to engage with complex topics if I understand the person engaging with them.
5/5, likely to be one of my favorite books of the year.