Who we are and how we got here

technicat reviewed Who we are and how we got here by Reich, David (Of Harvard Medical School)

good read to get some perspective

4 stars

This book can be a bit of a slog but I think it's important to learn how DNA research is forcing us to reevaluate both scientific and popular (not to mention racist) conventional thinking about how humans migrated around the world. Turns out there's been a lot of mixing and remixing. The author is a bit tone-deaf when complaining about objections to how his research can be used to perpetuate racist views, as has been historically done and is still happening, but he does point out examples of such cases (Nicolas Wade) and sloppy representations by ancestry companies. It's worth knowing that you probably are not as Neanderthal as 23andMe might lead you to believe but not as ancestrally pure as your politicians and even some supposed intellectuals would like you to think.

markm reviewed Who we are and how we got here by Reich, David (Of Harvard Medical School)

Review of 'Who we are and how we got here' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An excellent review of modern work on ancient DNA and its significance to human history. Most of the work discussed was done in the author's laboratory. The author is clear, but he is the head guy, not a science journalist like Carl Zimmer, and he cannot or will not elaborate on or repeat his explanations. I don't think anybody would expect a detailed explanation of principal component analysis in a work like this, for example, and some concepts like the four population test are greatly enhanced by good diagrams, but when Professor Reich points out a situation where frequent mutations are uncommon and infrequent ones are common, I found simple re-reading to be inadequate. In a final discussion of the significance of the newly discovered features and likely yet to be discovered features of our genomes on the concept of race, the author refreshingly says,
If we aspire to treat …

An excellent review of modern work on ancient DNA and its significance to human history. Most of the work discussed was done in the author's laboratory. The author is clear, but he is the head guy, not a science journalist like Carl Zimmer, and he cannot or will not elaborate on or repeat his explanations. I don't think anybody would expect a detailed explanation of principal component analysis in a work like this, for example, and some concepts like the four population test are greatly enhanced by good diagrams, but when Professor Reich points out a situation where frequent mutations are uncommon and infrequent ones are common, I found simple re-reading to be inadequate. In a final discussion of the significance of the newly discovered features and likely yet to be discovered features of our genomes on the concept of race, the author refreshingly says,
If we aspire to treat all individuals with respect regardless of the extraordinary differences that exist among individuals within a population, it should not be so much more of an effort to accommodate the smaller but still significant average differences across populations.

Moorlock reviewed Who we are and how we got here by Reich, David (Of Harvard Medical School)

Review of 'Who we are and how we got here' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The more-precise study of ancient human DNA that science now can accomplish allows us insight into parts of human history that had always before been considered "pre-history" and therefore mostly unknowable. In our genes is a record of our migrations and interactions that tells surprising tales. This book, though not easy reading, can catch the patient reader up on how this science is progressing.