The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (Paperback)

Luckily for the male ego and population geneticists it turns out that blokes also have some unique chromosomal hand baggage hidden away in the non-recombining part of the Y chromosome. Like female mitochondrial DNA it is passed solely between father and son and is particularly useful for studying human diversity. This is because it is so big--much bigger than mitochondrial DNA--and accumulates mutations at particular sites that can be relatively easily identified. By sampling the Y chromosome from men around the world the modern human diaspora can be mapped out both geographically and chronologically.

Spencer Wells is an American geneticist with impeccable credentials from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford universities and certainly knows his subject. Fortunately, he is also very good at explaining the science, which can be somewhat complicated at times. This fascinating and often surprising story originated as a television film and has benefited from being thoroughly worked out through first-hand experience around the world.

Accompanied by 24 pages of brilliant photos by Mark Read, an excellent list of further reading and an index, The Journey of Man is well worth getting to grips with. As Wells points out, each of us carries a unique chapter locked away inside our genome, and we owe it to ourselves and our descendants to discover what it is. Come on boys, this is our story and we ought to know the gist of it. Douglas Palmer

Review
Advances in science are often the result of advances in the tools of science. Simply being able to make instruments which measured length, volume and time accurately created the first explosion of discovery, and the invention of each successive instrument or procedure has added to the growth of scientific knowledge. In the 1950s X-ray crystallography led to the discovery of the structure of DNA and 20 years later the sequencing of the molecule started a revolution in science that has continued to the present day. Anthropology has been one of the beneficiaries of this advance. Previously the search for the origins of man was largely the province of fossil hunters and biology was only able to offer limited help. Work with blood groups had given indications, but it was the study of mitochondrial DNA that led to the identification of our earliest common female ancestor, who lived about 150,000 years ago in Africa. Further work with the Y-chromosome (the male equivalent of mitochondrial DNA) offered geneticists another useful tool for studying human diversity. 50,000 years ago modern man began an exodus from the cradle of Africa, moving along coastal Africa through Asia and ending up in Australasia. Other groups moved north at a steady rate of several kilometres per year, some ending up in Europe and others eventually crossing the Bering Strait into North America. Spencer Wells follows this journey using other branches of scientific knowledge, including clues from languages, and offers proof that Neanderthal man (already present in Europe) represents a separate species from modern Homo Sapiens and has no part in our ancestry. Investigations of the Y-chromosome yield other insights into the arrival of man into north America (a mere ten individuals account for the whole ethnic diversity among Native Americans), and the relationships between the various branches of the Family of Man. Spencer Wells explains the science in detail, which helps make this book all the more compelling, and the story it tells, revealed by the living cells of our bodies, all the more astonishing. 48 pages of beautiful colour photographs by Mark Read illustrate some of the race groups referred to in the text. (Kirkus UK)

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