The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyAllen Lane, 2002 - 224 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man walked the soil of Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did he come to be father to all of us - a real life Adam? To find out, Spencer Wells embarked on a unique voyage of discovery, travelling the world and deciphering the genetic codes of people from the Sahara Desert to Siberia. He reveals how our DNA enables us to work out where our ancestors lived, (and who they may have fought, loved and learned from); to re-trace their footsteps from Africa to the far corners of the earth ; to understand how we evolved into such a huge variety of sizes, shapes and races - and, ultimately, to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. |
From inside the book
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Page 4
... Darwin's new theory of evolution by natural selection . Huxley , lecturer in biology at the London School of Mines , later became better known as ' Darwin's Bulldog ' . Hooker was an accom- plished botanist and assistant director of the ...
... Darwin's new theory of evolution by natural selection . Huxley , lecturer in biology at the London School of Mines , later became better known as ' Darwin's Bulldog ' . Hooker was an accom- plished botanist and assistant director of the ...
Page 6
... Darwin was the de facto naturalist on the journey , and his lack of official status as such allowed him enormous leeway in pursuing his own studies . - His journal from the five - year journey , The Voyage of the Beagle , is a classic ...
... Darwin was the de facto naturalist on the journey , and his lack of official status as such allowed him enormous leeway in pursuing his own studies . - His journal from the five - year journey , The Voyage of the Beagle , is a classic ...
Page 7
... Darwin described the Fuegians as being ' . . . stunted in their growth , their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint , their skins filthy and greasy , their hair entangled , their voices discordant , and their gestures violent ...
... Darwin described the Fuegians as being ' . . . stunted in their growth , their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint , their skins filthy and greasy , their hair entangled , their voices discordant , and their gestures violent ...
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Common terms and phrases
Aborigines actually Adam Africa agriculture analysis ancient animals anthropologists apes appear Asian Australia Cavalli-Sforza cent central Asia China chromosomes clan climate coastal colleagues common ancestor continent culture Darwin defined descendants developed earliest early human east Asia Eurasian Europe Europeans evolution evolutionary expansion extinct favour frequency genes genetic data genetic diversity genetic variation geneticists genome Hindu Kush hominid Homo erectus human diversity human genetic human migration human populations hunter-gatherers hunting ice age impala India Indo-European Indo-European languages infer ingredients journey known languages leap lifestyle linguistic living marker Mediterranean Middle East Middle Eastern migration million mitochondrial DNA modern humans molecules mtDNA mutations Native Americans Neanderthals Neolithic non-African northern nucleotide Nyae origin past perhaps polymorphisms recent region route sample Siberia simply soup recipes south-east Asia southern species spoken spread steppe suggests thousands trace unique Upper Palaeolithic western Y-chromosome lineages