Read from: November 17 to December 22.
Ancestors in our Genome was a great overview of cutting edge findings in the field of human genetics and evolution.
Harris frames the book by how closely we are related to our "nearest relatives". This makes the book somewhat chronological. Along the way, we discover our nearest ape relative, and how genetics helped us put this ancient controversy to bed (it's the chimp). Also, what do scientists do when they are studying genomes and the science behind it all. Ancestors in our Genome was really educational for someone like me, I picked up a lot of evolutionary biology such as the difference between gene trees and species trees, selective sweeps and genetic drift. The last few chapters explore some of our closest relatives such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. (Thanks to genetics, we were able to extract DNA from these humans from a single finger bone. Nothing else has been found of this mysterious relative.) While it has leaked into popular science that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals and even Denisovans, it was exciting to see the science behind it. The science throughout the book was top-of-the-shelf. Harris has taken great trouble to report on the newest findings in the field, and in a field like human genetics, a book like this is excellent for keeping on top of things.
While Harris makes his best efforts to take people along, quite a bit of this book was hard reading. Added to this, since the book I was reading was an ARC, it lacked quite a few of the figures, and the diagrams were unintelligible. This is not taking away from the book, but I review what I read. There's a nice glossary at the end though, and a peak at it regularly won't hurt. The writing otherwise is flowing and while you don't get sucked in, you don't get bored either.
Overall, Ancestors in Our Genome was great science reading, especially for people in some background in this area.
Full Disclosure: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a review.
No comments:
Post a Comment