The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey

Description

Around 200,000 years ago, a man--identical to us in all important respects--lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so m

Spencer Wells is an entrepreneur and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas. He is the author of Deep Ancestry and Pandora's Seed.

"The Journey of Man is a book that should be read, for undeniably the story Wells reveals will transform our understanding of ourselves."--Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books "Spencer Wells chronicles the history of genetic population studies, starting with Darwin's puzzlement over the diversity of humanity he saw first-hand from the deck of the Beagle, and ending with the various attempts to classify human variation on the basis of different political and social agendas."--Rebecca Cann, Nature "The Journey of Man is fascinating and oozes charm... [It] is packed with important insights into our history and our relationships with each other... Who needs literature when science is this much fun?"--Chris Lavers, Guardian "The Journey of Man is the best account available of the story of human origins and dispersals."--Colin Renfrew, Times Higher Education Supplement "Fortunately for the lay reader, Wells has a knack for clear descriptions and clever analogies to help explain the intricacies of the science involved. Both entertaining and enlightening."--Library Journal "Wells does an excellent job of making complex scientific data accessible and weaves a tapestry of physical anthropology and archaeology as well as linguistics and, of course, genetics to piece together the rise of the agricultural society, the interrelations between far-flung languages, and the eventual settlement of humans into virtually every corner of the globe."--Elise Proulx, East Bay Express