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Abash'd the Devil Stood

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   Jesse Bullington

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J T, February 24, 2007 (view all comments by J T)
Accompanying my intensive research into mDNA & matrilinealism in Austronesian societies, I read this book hoping to get a better overall picture of how maternal clan lines are traced. My highest hopes were surpassed. Sykes not only pioneered the field, he is an excellent writer, & he reveals his enthusiasms well. There's not a dry moment in the book. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed learning about the quite recent history of DNA analysis in archaeology. Like others, I wasn't too awed by the Eurocentrist aspect, but I sense that if Sykes had the time/space, he could have delved even deeper into the genetic history of all the continents. Fascinating & compelling!!

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Cecile, October 22, 2006 (view all comments by Cecile)
This very informative book by Bryan Sykes was easy to read, even with several sections detailing the intricacies of genetics, biological anthropology, etc. Sykes, professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, shows how good scientists, probably especially those working in genetics, glean information from a wide variety of other fields so as to help them come up with possible answers to the questions they are asking. And then there's the infighting, competition, back-stabbing and so on commonly associated with politics but very much alive in the world of science.
I was fascinated with the inventiveness and creativity of Sykes and his team of researchers in devising gizmos to, for example, drill into the tooth of a very, very old skeleton. I won't say how old.
Read the book and be prepared to laugh out loud, as I did, when you get to "Cheddar Man speaks." Sykes treats the foibles of the living with as much care and compassion as he handles the bones of the thousand plus year old dead. My only caveat is that he focuses on Europe for most of the book and rushes a bit at the end to cover the rest of the world so as to be truly writing about "our" genetic ancestry. You'll also see the possibility of a good basis for a theory as to why Western Europeans and their descendants in the U.S. have been notorious colonizers and wagers of war.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780393323146

Subtitle:

The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry

Author:

Sykes, Bryan

Publisher:

W. W. Norton & Company

Location:

New York

Subject:

Women

Subject:

Evolution

Subject:

Genetics

Subject:

Anthropology - Physical

Subject:

Human evolution

Subject:

Evolution - Human

Subject:

Evolutionary genetics

Subject:

Human population genetics

Subject:

Genetics, Population.

Subject:

Evolution, Molecular.

Subject:

Life Sciences - Genetics & Genomics

Subject:

Life Sciences - Evolution - Human

Copyright:

2002

Edition Number:

Norton Pbk ed.

Series Volume:

107-548

Publication Date:

May 2002

Binding:

Paperback

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

320

Dimensions:

8.40x5.50x.81 in. .63 lbs.