The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Synopsis:

Synopsis:

About the Author

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!

Average customer rating based on 3 comments:

Patricia R., January 14, 2010 (view all comments by Patricia R.)
It's ironic that this proof of sisterhood comes from a male author whose book concludes with a vision of "all my foremothers" filling a large auditorium. He shows how every person of European descent living anywhere in the world has one of seven women as their ultimate ancestress in the maternal line. One of these women is also the ultimate mother of 10% of Native Americans, & he creates an imaginative hypothesis of how this might have come about. This book combines science & creative use of anthropological data to construct a plausible "biography" of each of the seven women. He also discusses MDNA research into origins of people in Japan, Australia, and other parts of the world. At the time the book was published, 21 "foremothers" had been discovered, all of them descendants of "the African Eve." Sykes has set up a scientific foundation that will analyze MDNA from a cheek-swab to tell you which "daughter of Eve" you are descended from. The result may surprise you!

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(4 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)

report this comment

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!!

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(13 of 22 readers found this comment helpful)

report this comment

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.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(11 of 18 readers found this comment helpful)

report this comment

View all 3 comments

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:

20020517

Binding:

Hardback

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Illustrations:

illustrated and includes a map

Pages:

320

Dimensions:

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