I heard Adam Rutherford on a Peaceful Science podcast and was stimulated to buy this book. I am impressed with how well he writes. I'm not a biologist but found myself getting into the story of humanity Rutherford was telling. I found myself eager to keep reading to see how the story at hand would end. He has an easy style and recognizes that genetic and genomic science is new to many readers and seeks to explain the terms he uses. He helpfully included a glossary of terms in the back which I used often enough to remind myself until I was confident I understood the terms as he later used them. I also appreciated how he situates science in the project of human knowing. Science is ever learning, ever correcting, and so we should need to keep revisiting the story science tells of humanity as "we" learn more.
I very much enjoyed Chapter 5, "The End of Race." I think this is a significant chapter for us as we think about current issues of racial injustice. He wrote (p. 218): "Racism is hateful bullying, and a means of reinforcing self-identity at the expense of others: Whatever you are, you're not one of us. If there is on thing that my own torturous family tree demonstrates it is that families make a mockery of racial epithets, and racial definitions as used in common parlance are deeply problematic. Modern genetics has shown just that, too, and I'll be navigating through some of the data on that in the next few pages. But here is the idea I will be investigating: There are no essential genetic elements for any particular group of people who might be identified as a 'race.' As far as genetics is concerned, race does not exist." He brings up and explores the irony that his "The science of genetics was founded specifically on the study of racial inequality, by a racist. The history of my field," Rutherford writes, "is inextricably intertwined with ideas that we now find toxic: racism, empire, prejudice, and eugenics." (p. 219). He later says, still in chapter 5, "Genetically, two black people are more likely to be more different to each other than a black person and a white person." (p. 235) Read that last quotation again. He then says, "In other words, while the physical differences are clearly visible between a white and a black person, the total amount of difference is smaller that between two black people." (p. 235)
A few pages later (p. 237) he notes, "The unglamorous truth is that there are but a handful of uniquely human traits that we have clearly demonstrated are adaptations evolved to thrive in specific geographical regions. Skin color is one. The ability to digest milk is another..."
I found this to be a timely book, one that I felt I needed to read. But it soon became a fun book that turned out to be a delight to read. As you read this book, you will find yourself as I found myself in the story that Adam Rutherford told. It really is A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived.
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From the Publisher
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
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| A Brief History of Everyone who Ever Lived | How to Argue With a Racist | The Book of Humans | |
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| Price | $16.63 | $9.95 | $10.20 |
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Reviews with images
Amazingly yet scientifically, entertaining
Rutherford dod a great job with this book, i trully lived it
Top reviews from other countries
Ash
A tale of race, genetics, and us
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2021
Señor Tsunami
A whip-smart introduction to human genetics, what it explains and what it doesn't.
Reviewed in Canada on March 1, 2018