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 30 reviews)

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.

Harrison's Review by Haddy

3 Stars
January 09, 2009
Deep Ancestry by Spencer Wells is a book that uses the advances in genetics to look inside the common ancestor shared by all humans. Wells uses the genetic trails of the mtDNA in women and the y chromosome in men to classify people to certain genetic groups. The book follows four individuals who have unique genetic patterns that link them to the very original ancestors of all human life. The book goes into detailed description on how history and genetics combine to form a team that can decode seemingly useless objects and tell of their genetic origins. Basically, Wells uses genetics to find the original human and then show the patterns of migration throughout the world from this one human. The book is well written but very dry. It goes into explicit detail about the sequences of DNA, which to the untrained eye, just look like a page full of letters and numbers. This gets very repetitive after a while and is a slight criticism of the book. The book is very interesting about the fact that all humans can be traced back to a common ancestor most likely from somewhere in Africa. Also, the migration patterns of the people throughout the world can be determined by genetics. This book fuses history and genetics into one and the same. Geneticists tell historians of the migration patterns, and the historians back this information up with archeological evidence that points to certain people being in certain places at certain times. All in all the book was boring but informative. I enjoyed the biological information gained from it regarding the uses of genetics in history. This book shows how everyone truly I your "brother". Harrison Addy

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project by J. Adrian Falcon (Jefferson, GA United States)

4 Stars
September 06, 2008
This book was alright, but not as good as his other book "Jouney of Man".

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