The Seven Daughters of Eve (Paperback)

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• Adam's Curse: A Future without Men by Bryan Sykes

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Adam's Curse: A Future without Men by Bryan Sykes 3.8 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.99

Blood of the Isles by Bryan Sykes 3.3 out of 5 stars (3)  £6.99

Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World by Stephen Oppenheimer 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £6.49

The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story by Stephen Oppenheimer 3.6 out of 5 stars (25)  £7.14

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project by Spencer Wells 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £5.99

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Amazon.co.uk Review
In The Seven Daughters of Eve Bryan Sykes has produced a highly readable scientific autobiography depicting the major events in his career as a human geneticist. He was the first to extract DNA from the bones of the 5,000-year-old Iceman, and he solved the problem of the colonisation of Polynesia by tracing modern Polynesians' genetic ancestry. The high point of his work so far is the creation of a genetic map of Western Europe, showing that over 95% of native Europeans can trace their ancestry back to one of seven individual women. To trace this lineage Sykes and his team used mitochondria, tiny structures within each cell, which are passed on purely down the maternal line. Because they do not engage in recombination like chromosomes, mitochondria are easy to trace, changing only as a result of slow mutation. The mutation rate acts as a clock indicating how long different populations have been separated. The science is clearly explained and Sykes gives a good flavour of the life of a working scientist in a series of well-chosen anecdotes, all written in a warm, engaging style. The seven daughters themselves, whom he has named Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine and Jasmine, are brought to life in rather whimsical little stories describing how their lives might have been before and during the last great Ice Age. All in all, this is an excellent piece of popular-science writing, unveiling a fascinating story about human inter-relatedness. It deserves to be widely read. --Elizabeth Sourbut --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
In 1994 Professor Brian Sykes, a leading world authority on DNA and human evolution, was called in to examine the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in northern Italy. News of the discovery of the Ice Man and his age, which was put at over 5000 years old, fascinated the world. But what made the story particularly extraordinary was that Professor Sykes was also able to track down a living generic relative of the Ice Man, a woman living in Britain today. How was he able to locate a living relative of a man who died thousands of years ago? In this work, Sykes gives us a first hand account of his research into a remarkable gene which passes undiluted from generation to generation through the maternal line and shows how it is being used to track our genetic ancestors through time and space. After plotting thousands of DNA sequences from all over the world he found that they had clustered around a handful of distinct groups. In Europe there are only seven. The conclusions: amost everyone of native European descent, wherever they live in the world, can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, the seven daughters of Eve. Sykes has named them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine and Jasmine. In this scientific adventure story we learn exactly how our origins can be traced; how and where our ancient genetic ancestors lived; what their lives were like; and how we are each living proof of the almost miraculous strength of our DNA which has survived and prospered over so many thousands of years to reach us today. It is a book that presents the story of our evolution, striking right at the heart of ourselves as individuals and of our sense of identity.

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First Sentence
On Thursday 19 September 1991 Erika and Helmut Simon, two experienced climbers from Nuremberg in Germany, were nearing the end of their walking holiday in the Italian Alps. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover

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29 Reviews 5 star:  (10) 4 star:  (13) 3 star:  (5) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 4.1 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   16 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Best popular science book I've read all year, 26 Jul 2006 By  J. Takata (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)       This review is from: The Seven Daughters of Eve (Paperback) Even to a mere 16 year old teenager, this book was engrossing. The descriptions of the Seven Daughters of Eve were imaginative, and every line was mixed with humour. Even the most scientific parts of the book were very easy to understand, and even enjoyable, which not many popular science books can do. Sykes has a gift of explaining complex notions clearly, and for that alone, he deserves the five stars. But what is most absorbing about this book is the whole idea of all of us being related to one another. It was definitely an eye opener and made me look at everyone else in the world differently - almost as if I am seeing my brothers and sisters around every corner! The enduring capacity of mitochondrial DNA, and the fact that it stays pure for centuries, was also a gripping concept - and made me realise the power of DNA and our genes. A must read for anyone who is fascinated by genetics. It even made me consider genetics for a future degree! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   13 of 13 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars For a book about genetics it's a real page turner!, 22 Aug 2003 By  Anna Quay (Middle of England) - See all my reviews The blurb goes on about it being passionate and bubbly and whatever, but don't be put off.. it really is good! It's a rare example of a science book which is hard to put down in the way a 'good read' should be, but is more informative than many pop science books come near. In brief the book covers what he looked for (identifiable patterns in mitochondrial DNA); what he found (they exist, and are special because they only pass from mother to child); and what that means (he could prove not only that we're all related but how, when and where). He talks about his excitement at the 'we're all related' factor, and although I started out cynical, or rather apathetic, I was excited too by the end of the book. If you're a 'Helena', then you descend from the same great.... grandmother as anyone else with that marker, which could be your bloke, your dad (as well as your mum), your girlfriend, the bloke selling the big issue on the corner, the confused-looking people on the telly in some Baghdad hospital... when you start thinking about the implications, it gives you a rather funny feeling, and that is what Sykes says is the whole point of the work he does. And even if fluffy we-are-all-one feelings are not for you, I bet you'd be fascinated by the information the book contains! Oh - and as a painless primer in pre-history it's not half bad either. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   8 of 8 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Highly readable, 13 Jul 2002 By  Ross Gourlay - See all my reviews You don't need to know anything about genetics to read this book. You will undoubtedly understand more afterwards. An entertaining and easy read which details the author's research work in ancient DNA. It's far more interesting than I can make it sound. My only gripe is the fictional chapters detailing what the lives of the seven women might have been like - these really interrupted the flow of the book. Skip them and you'll miss very little. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 29 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Informative i read this book as i was revising for my exams and it managed to answer some of my unanswered questions to do with genetics. Read more Published 3 months ago by akansha 4.0 out of 5 stars gripping stuff This is the best scientifically based book I have read since 'relativity for the layman'! In fact it is probably the only one I have read since then and that was a long time ago... Read more Published 4 months ago by Janet Lumb 5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely readable An excellent book. Don't be put off by that awful "1 star review". As a professional scientist in another field, I found this a very enjoyable coffee table book. Read more Published 5 months ago by Martin Scott 3.0 out of 5 stars Giving Genetics a Geographic Face This book is by no means great literature, but I enjoyed the discussion about human migration and mtDNA because the presentation by Sykes gives historical genetics a geographic... Read more Published 7 months ago by Andis Kaulins 4.0 out of 5 stars 7 daughters of eve This book is a mixture of science and fiction.The science is good and the fiction gives a reasonable possible account of the lives of the 7 daughters. Read more Published 9 months ago by G. I. Forbes 5.0 out of 5 stars Popular science Which I don't mean perjoratively at all - quite the reverse. Any book that makes a scientific issue more accessible wins stars as far as I am concerned. Read more Published 14 months ago by Rhiannon 1.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction I will say that this book is a mediocre science fiction book. I can see by the many reviews that people have fell for his "facts" hook, line, and sinker. Read more Published 18 months ago by Bill Smith 5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and thought provoking in many ways Having been aware of this book for a few years, I finally bought a copy to take on a train journey. Needless to say I was very pleased for a number of reasons. Read more Published on 22 May 2007 by Mist of Time 5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Detective Story. Thor Heyerdahl was wrong! according to the DNA of the Polynesian people, they set out from Taiwan not Peru. Read more Published on 23 Feb 2007 by Ian Cadman 4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant illumination of human interconnectedness An explanation of human genetics for the layman, this book illustrates Brian Sykes' quest for our origins in terms of a personal adventure. Read more Published on 28 Oct 2005 by MonkeyReviewer Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 29 customer reviews...

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