kelkelkelhart's review

4.0
informative medium-paced
informative fast-paced

tjh14850's review

5.0

Important book discussing breakthroughs in genetic anthropology (or anthropological genetics) where new sampling within ancient sites are leading to a reformation of the theories regarding the original settling of different parts of the world and especially the Americas. It also brings up the issues about how old archeological practices of sampling ancient sites had been performed without consideration of whether sites were sacred nor the current descendants of the people being researched. Also interpretations of earlier data were affected by racial preconceptions and biases to infer superiority of some people over others.There will definitely more emerging out of this field as capabilities of genetic analysis continue to be refined and more samples are found without contaminating or compromising the results.

annebug's review

5.0

Fascinating history of the population of the Americas. The book is written for laypeople, but does not oversimplify the puzzle of reconciling the historical, anthropological and genetic evidence with respect and integrity.

ansbromadison's review

4.75
adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

Library hold ran out and also I could not pay attention to this sorry 😭😭

nfallon4980's review

4.0
informative medium-paced

stacyroth's review

3.75
informative slow-paced
sfmobink's profile picture

sfmobink's review

3.0

I thought this would be more amateur-friendly but it did help me to sleep at night! Seriously, the book would have been more approachable to the lay person with an interest in science if the author had made the genetics more relatable and explained things in a less “sciency” way. The most successful sections to me were where she used a dramatic storytelling style to bring the DNA samples to life in the reader’s mind. I sympathize because it is tough to translate scientific topics into a language the lay person can understand. This one missed the boat. Also, more maps and photos of the landscape she discussed would have been very helpful as well. A missed opportunity overall to me.

holl_03's review

3.0
informative reflective slow-paced

This book was incredibly well-researched, thoughtful, and added to my knowledge on the genetic and archaeological history of the Americas. I do think it was a little slow at times and could have used more diagrams. But overall I enjoyed the read!