The Genetic Strand

The Genetic Strand: Exploring a Family History Through DNA by Edward Ball

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This isn't quite the book that a brief description makes it out to be. What most of the book does is describe the current state of DNA testing in most of the variations that someone is likely to come across. That it was mostly science-talk didn't bother me - I'm familiar enough with the science around DNA to not be bothered by "the Vocabulary." What did bother me, though, was getting back to what the brief description promises - a book about race and racial tension within multiple generations of a family. In my opinion, the book didn't spend *nearly* enough time with this. I couldn't help but cringe when the author talks about the possibility of having non-white ancestors with some of his family members. They sound really excited about it, but sound so ignorant in their discussion that it's really off-putting.

I also found the implicit white privilege in the whole premise of the book somewhat off-putting too: the well-off white guy finds some family hair in his family heirloom desk (which he finds really bizarre, but I think is fairly common to collect a bit of hair from a first haircut, etc..) and decides to go to the expense of having it DNA tested to see if his family's story about who they are is accurate. While he hoped to find traces of Native American or African ancestry in the DNA samples collected (probably so he'd have the premise for another book), I was struck by the fact that he's *able* to do this, whereas for many of the descendants of the slaves his family held, they *don't* have a long family story and at least some (I won't say many, because I don't know) don't have the means to find out via DNA testing (he doesn't talk about the cost of all the testing in the book).

****SPOILER****
The book doesn't bother me because it's not an apologist work. It bothers me because it's as if he and his relatives covet biological evidence of the mistreatment of the women they held as slaves (or the illicit activities of the white women in their family). The book bothers me because after he's found out that his family is as white as they always thought they were - even if there's no "noble" blood in their family - the book just stops. Oh, huh. DNA testing sometimes makes mistakes - cue skepticism about EVERYTHING related to DNA, blah, blah. It came off as though he's the spoiled kid who didn't get his way and now he doesn't want to play anymore, though it's better written than to sound *whiny*. It bothers me that he wanted to spend the $$ to try to rewrite his family history _because he wanted to_ when most other people (white or not) can't. Just makes it seem like he's not so far removed from his ancestors as he'd like to be - ideologically.



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T. Rex and the Crater of Doom

Walter Alvarez's book is a great discovery story! Well-written for the lay audience, it captures one's attention and takes readers through the many dead ends and ultimately, discoveries, that make up science and the process that scientists go through formulating and testing their ideas.

Highly recommended for all science lovers, dinosaur buffs (if you haven't read it already!), everyone wanting to find out more about the world around us, and of course, anyone who's ever wondered what really happened to the dinosaurs.

Becoming Human

I've been a little lax in posting, so am hoping to catch up a bit tonight. :) I finished reading Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness by Ian Tattersall about three weeks ago. This book discusses aspects of human evolution and how people differ from our closest living relatives - chimpanzees, gorillas, and other living primates. The book also discusses the accomplishments of our now-extinct antecedants in a fair amount of detail.

Some of Tattersall's observations are far from original (e.g. the cave paintings at Lascaux are impressive), but others - to the typical layperson seem somewhat controversial at first glance (e.g. that chimps and gorillas can't communicate like people can and that sign language experiments have pretty much failed all around). As a layperson with (realistically) only basic knowledge about human evolution and very little knowledge about recent developments (the last 10-15 years) in anthropological research, I found this book a breath of fresh air. Tattersall challenges the body of "common knowledge" and in doing so forces the reader to confront his/her own prejudices about how humans developed and what makes us unique in the world.

Highly recommended for all laypersons with an interest in anthropology/human evolution. Anthro students used to reading journals in these fields are unlikely to find much new and will probably prefer something more technical. Very readable for the layperson, though. Very little jargon.

Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman

This book is a series of anecdotes collected from Richard Feynman by the editor, Edward Hutchings. The subtitle, "Adventures of a Curious Character" really is an understatement! While I am not sure if I'd have wanted to date Feynman, he definitely sounds like someone who'd have been fun to meet and get to know.

Highly recommended for those interested in finding out more about the people behind the sciences and for people who enjoy funny stories. A very quick, enjoyable read.

The Double Helix

This book was fantastic! I wasn't sure whether or not it would be hard to understand, but there was very little about the technical aspects of Watson & Crick's discovery of DNA's form. The book is a very quick read and I thought, very exciting. :) The book is written as a scientific memoir about how Watson & Crick made their Nobel Prize-winning discovery.

Excellent!!