Product Description
Travel backward through time from today's scattered billions to the handful of early humans who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago and are ancestors to us all. In Deep Ancestry, scientist and National Geographic explorer Spencer Wells shows how tiny genetic changes add up over time into a fascinating story. Using scores of real-life examples, helpful analogies, and detailed diagrams and illustrations, he explains exactly how each and every individual's DNA contributes another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of human history. The book takes readers inside the Genographic Project—the landmark study now assembling the world's largest collection of DNA samples and employing the latest in testing technology and computer analysis to examine hundreds of thousand of genetic profiles from all over the globe—and invites us all to take part.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 32 reviews)

A good review, but same major questions remain by algo41 (cinnaminson, nj United States)

3 Stars
November 24, 2009
This book served me well as a review of the ideas in Wells' "The Journey of Man", with the added benefit that it also references the findings from analyses of women's mitochondrial DNA, finding consistency between those findings and the findings based on men's Y chromosome. At the same time it is disappointing in that it offers no fresh insight into whether there was some genetic great leap forward in the last 50,000-75,000 years, corresponding to the cultural leap forward. Nor does it make me any more comfortable with the fact that Eve lived so much earlier than Adam. It suggests this may be due to the fact that the men with the most reproductive success can be responsible for a relatively large proportion of children (Genghiz Khan has a huge number of descendants), but that is not sufficient in my mind. At the very least, I would have expected some simulations to test various assumptions which might lead to the Eve/Adam conundrum. The reader also needs to be aware that Wells, probably for simplicity, tends to make the most likely scenarios more certain than they are: letting in uncertainty only when you get to the the future areas of research, and the detailed discussion of the haplogroups.

AN INTRIGUING QUESTION by Robert Egby (Chaumont, upstate New York.)

5 Stars
November 24, 2009
I'm an avid reader but I rarely read a book from front to back, but this one I did. It reads like a mystery thriller with Spencer Wells revealing clues and answers. A great read. For the egoists on certain racial origins it must be a shattering blow, but for the spiritually minded it warms the heart to think that we -- the human race -- began 60,000 years ago with a single family in an African Valley. But this prompts some intriguing questions: Where did the family originate? Why? How? And what force, influence or motivator put it there? Perhaps God, the Universal Mind, visitors from a distant cosmic realm? Was that single family planted as a seed? If so, are we being observed? If so, who is doing the watching, and why? Hopefully Dr. Wells and the Genographic Project will discover some answers. Meanwhile we wait for the next episode.

Hustle In My Genes by PeeGeeBeeDee

3 Stars
August 28, 2009
A concise, easy to read book about the workings of DNA (tracing ancestry through the use of Y chromosome and mtDNA markers) and how it relates to the human species as a whole. (But, again, like most book that deal with this subject; in Deep Ancestry race is considered an incidental, inconsequential social construct.) I suggest you read this prior to reading, "The Seven Daughters of Eve..." and "Saxons, Vikings, and Celts..."

An excellent read, accessible and informative. by J. Canestrino (Lodi, CA United States)

4 Stars
July 21, 2009
Deep Ancestry by Spencer Wells deals with the genetic evidence collected from various populations from all over the planet and uses genetic markers that identify differences in those populations to trace their origins and migrations. Of particular use and interest are indigenous populations that have had very little mixing with outsiders. This book is, essentially, an updated, less technical version of his earlier book The Journey of Man. Wells does an excellent job explaining how mitochondrial DNA (inherited only from the mother) and Y chromosome DNA (passed only from fathers to sons) can be used to trace the migrations of numerous populations. He also discusses how the genetic evidence relates to archaelogical data, language distribution and cultures. Excellent stuff and fun reading too! Books by Luigi Cavalli-Sforza and Brian Sykes might also be of interest to those who have enjoyed this book.

The slight of Brian Sykes by Barry Vann

2 Stars
May 11, 2009
Spencer Wells has written a weak, politically correct imitation of the successful work of Britain's Brian Sykes. While Deep Ancestry clearly tries to speak to a modestly educated audience, it does offer some reference citations. Sadly, Sykes, the author of Seven Daughters of Eve, is not mentioned anywhere. This, however, is only one of the problems that plagues Wells' book. For instance, he relies on speculation too much to explain racial variations which he limits to skin color while excluding skeletal, orthodontic and hair features. His explanation for racial variations relies on environmental responses and sexual selection as well as genetic drift. While I find little to fault him here, he provides scant new information about how those biological change agents have manifested themselves beyond skin pigmentation. In the end, it seems he is making a pitch for his readers to see humanity as one big family. Here too he slights the methodology of Sykes who casts his genetic discussions in the context of history and respect for ethnic identity. All humans may be biologically related to each other, but that doesn't mean that mankind is a functional family. On the contrary, history has shown us that humanity is in fact a dysfunctional family. Wells should learn from Sykes and incorporate more history and sociology into his work. Human identity is more important than mutations in copying chromosomes.

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