Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project Hardcover – 21 Nov. 2006

Both these books go together. Indeed Depp Ancestry is a must because it caterlogues all the Haplogroups and shows how they are connected. This as a bit out of date but still an essential tome to help anyone understand better. So I have it as I read books by the wonderful Stephen Oppenheimer and Bryan Sykes as well. Thank to you all you wonderful scientists. I have not stopped studying the journey of man since I began in ernest quite a few years ago now. There is still so much to learn. Keep an open mind. Do not get angry. This is YOUR history from the deep past 20,000 to 150,000 years ago starting in Africa. Cynthia Allen McLaglen

If there ever was one single book to read that sets out our origins - then this has to be it. The book is welll written and sets out the arguments with a great deal of clarity. A must read for those that still believe in racial superriorityand hopefully they will learn a few things and realise colour is truly skin deep. A good book for me is one that raises more questions, makes me think and sets me on a further learning journey. This book did all of that.Krishna Sarda

Enjoyed reading this but would not read it again...

The human diaspora from Africa that populated the world has been the subject of several recent studies. At first, these books were bulwarks against the tide of "Multi-regionalism" - the idea that an early version of our ancestral species evolved into Homo sapiens at different times and places. Genetic research, including that of the author, has shown that we're all descended from a small African population. Placing our origins on one continent simplifies the task of analysis of tracking our movements. In this book, Wells explains how the examination works and what it reveals of our ancestry.The tool is "markers" on the genome. For females it was the DNA in mitochondria, the cell's "powerhouse". For males, it is changes on the Y chromosome, that molecular structure triggering a shift from the default embryo condition. The author demonstrates how these indicators are detected and how they allow us to track our ancestry back in time. The markers designate genetic "borders" between groups of people who share a common ancestor in the deep past. The groups are called "haplotypes" - for which Wells, at least in the case of Europe, uses the term "clan". There are seven of these clans - designated by letter labels such as "R", "J" or "N" - descended from male originators. The approach is reminiscent of Bryan Sykes "Seven Daughters of Eve" [2001], except Wells follows the male lineage where Sykes used mitochondrial DNA to source female origins. Both authors focus on the European records as being more complete and readily available. Wells also finds but five female lines as opposed to Sykes' seven.Wells discusses how genetic "clocks" can postulate a rate of mutation over a long span of time to roughly determine the age of the haplogroup. Much of this assessment is sustained by archaeological record. The procedures pinpoint his own grandmother's ancestry, which is ostensibly Danish, to origins in the Middle East, some ten thousand years ago at the beginning of the adoption of agriculture. The shift to the Middle East leads Wells to examine people living today with roots in far corners of the world. One notable example is "Phil", whose Native American background becomes the start of a study of Siberian people. There have been many disputes about the origins of the Western Hemisphere's human settlers. Wells travelled to the Asian North to recover genetic data. The information clearly defines the link between Indian populations here and their ancestry in Eastern Asia.Wells puts some effort into explaining how DNA works, what counts as a "mutation" and how these changes can be tracked down the generations. With enough samples from living populations in historically stable circumstances, he can provide maps of the distribution of the haplogroups and frequency of the haplotype in a given area. Ireland, for example, is populated almost exclusively by a single haplotype. He explains that The Genographic Project he heads is keen to collect more data, both to refine the European and Native American data, but to enlarge the information from other parts of the world. Clearly, this is a book "in progress", but stands firmly as a good basis for understanding the foundations of such research and its enlargement of knowledge of humanity. Although he states this book is "less technical" than his "The Journey of Man", there is sufficient information on how the data collection and analysis is undertaken to make the book readable and interesting to everybody. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

This book is perfect for anyone interested in genetics and the origin of humans. It explains all terminolgy simply then expands upon it thus even if you have little or no knowledge of genetics or biology you can read and enjoy it.The book while concentrating on the scientific information gathered by the project also explores the personnal discoveries individuals have made by entering the project and the subsequent DNA analysis, making it far more interesting a text than ones which consist of only science.The author's enthusiasm for the project leaps off the page. I read this book in 24 hours and absolutely couldn't put it down. Would highly recommend to anyone.

An easy read, but don't expect to learn much about how the techniques of paleoancestry are performed. The same can be said about Stephen Oppenheimer's books. Please could someone write a book telling us how it is really done! I have amassed a small library of books on DNA testing; I am now familiar with the use for genetic fingerprinting, and I have a vague idea of what Oppenheimer and Wells are writing about, but I would dearly love to read a book about the techniques.Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project

I wish I knew that the second edition was due out in November this year before I decided to buy this book. I would have waited.

It was an amazing story of the genetic history of humans through time. The end of the book has a reference section which goes through each major haplogroup. That way, if you participated in the National Geographic's Genographic project, this book can guide you and help you interpret your results.

What a marvellous little book! I was taken by surprise so many times during my reading, whenever I thought I knew what the author is about at the beginning of many of his stories. In a way, this is like a crime fiction book written by a clever writer that catches you off guard and it reveals the killer only at the last page. The writing style is deceivingly simple; Spencer gets over the scientific details of genetics in a few paragraphs where he tells you in plain English everything you need to know to understand this book. The book then flows smoothly and he managed to make it so easy for you to follow the main ideas and try to decipher what is probably the greatest puzzle of all: the origins of human race. You will have a few surprises.You might have seen the National Geographic documentary "The Journey of Man". Its author is none other than same Spence Wells. He is only 37 years old, and very, very bright. I have to emphasize again the writing style: very simple, yet it explains clearly complex concepts. He talks science, yet he is humorous and light. He uses sometimes numbers and probabilities, but the book is in general built around stories of five people chosen to represent the main haplogroups (families or a clans of people that share the same genetic properties transmitted over many generations) in the history of mankind. Spencer Wells is currently a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and the director of Genographic Project. It is a great and fascinating role he is playing. The goal of this project is to collect about 100,000 genetic samples from people around the world that live in still pristine conditions: that is they live in the same area their families lived for a long time. This information is stored in a database and by applying sophisticated algorithms; we should be able to determine how we have evolved in time, how we migrated and how we came to become the people of today. I was a little bit sceptical about this entire concept, but the book convinced me. You will have to read it to understand what really means. It is a powerful idea.The book is based on five stories told people with very different backgrounds. Each story will astound you. You will also have a better understanding of what genetic archaeology is. If you are familiar with DNA, it will make even more sense to you. The DNA is seen more and more like a cryptic library that holds many secrets about our evolution. Segments of code will reveal relationships never thought possible. This book does not go that much in detail, but it does tell you the story in a nicely narrated style that takes you step by step through the various haplogroups patterns, like a detective, and come up with unexpected conclusions.In the end you will see why scientists believe that the Adam and Eve, the original parents of all the people that populated this planet today, lived around 60,000 years ago in Africa. If you take the time to think about it, you realise how amazing this is. In 2,000 generations we evolved from an ape like humanoid to the generation of the Internet. The book will take you through the Ice Age, the disappearance of Neanderthal, the conquest of Asia, the mystery of Australian Aborigines, invasion of Americas and many other adventures. Back to Africa, you will get to know how genetically diverse this continent is. Did you know that two of the oldest haplogroups (tribes) still live in Africa today and probably they speak the oldest language, perhaps the first languages? These people speak the so-called click languages that are more sophisticated in the variety of sounds than our modern languages.The book has also information about how to purchase a Genographic Project Public Participation Kit. For $99.95 you can get that kit, collect your DNA sample and send it to the project office. The results are kept confidentially in the project database and you will have secure access to your DNA profile. You can find more details at [...]I recommend this book to anyone curious about genetics, genealogy, history, evolution and genetic archaeology.

This book and the Journey of Man should be read by all who want to know where we came from

This is the second book I have read by Spencer Wells, and I have found this one to be equally interesting. In this book you will learn about haplogroups, which identify people with similar genetic markers and how those markers are identified in the genetic code. There are two types: the mitochondrial (mtDNA) and the Y chromosome groups. Various maps in the book show where the many haplogroups had there probable origins. The evidence presented in the genetic code (Y chromosome), indicates that we had a common ancestor dating back about 60,000 years ago and this ancestor looked pretty much like modern humans today.What I found interesting was the sudden change of events about 50,000 years ago. All of a sudden we see the development of sophisticated art forms, the migration out of Africa, the development of speech and complex technology and a leap in brain function. One must wonder what was going on.I highly recommend this book, and if you want more information, you can go to the[...] Web site which discusses the genographic project in detail. It is a pretty cool site.

Thank you