Rating: 
Summary: The genetics of real people
Review: According to Bryan Sykes, a 300 million year long experiment is about to conclude. The experiment is mammalian sex. The investigation into how best to reproduce and extend the species is running out of material - the Y chromosome. In a beautifully written, if somewhat suspect, work, Sykes surveys how sex became the driving force of evolution and what that means for humanity today - and tomorrow. He describes the years of research, including many false starts, leading to the identity of the chromosomes determining our gender. Knowledge of the chromosomes came soon after Darwin's revelation of evolution by natural selection. Darwin realized that sex played a fundamental role in the mechanism of evolution, but the details remained an enigma. Unaware of genes, he still managed to envision the role of sexual selection among animals. When the process of cell division was understood, it led to searching for the means by which traits were transmitted through generations. "Dark blobs" observed by a Canadian military physician began the quest for their identity and significance. The find led to identity of the X-chromosome that forms females. The Y-chromosome, which drives a foetus to become a male, was a later discovery. In Sykes' view, the human male's chromosome has been the major factor in human evolution and cultural development. Not only determining gender, it acts through a feedback loop. More powerful, aggressive males tend to reinforce their role in selecting mates and propagating traits in offspring. While the Sykes' progenitor has nearly ten thousand descendants, the MacDonald clan, long dominant in Scotland, has proliferated around the planet with nearly half a million progeny. The most numerous progeny, however, has resulted in 16 million descendants of Asia's Ghengis Khan scattered throughout Eurasia. The Khan is the most extreme example of the male's propensity for war, conquest, and, in Sykes' view, the "enslavement" of women. His descent into the depths of "political correctness" is brief and shallow, but telling for his thesis. Today the planet is carpeted with humanity, the result of a society dominated by the Y-chromosome. When hunter-gatherer societies took up agriculture, it "chained women" to "serial pregnancies", depriving them of the "relaxation of a sedentary existence" while producing additional farm workers. The resulting population explosion ultimately drove the creation of our industrialized, polluting society. This condition, in Sykes' view, is now leading to a depletion of the Y-chromosome's prowess. Ultimately, he argues, human males will be replaced by a society of women. Whether men will be kept as breeding stock he doesn't predict. A practiced adept at metaphor, Sykes' finesse in describing cellular mechanics is unusual in a scientist. He portrays a slow-motion ballet, with chromosomes gently finding their opposite number to "delicately lie alongside each other" until "they are entwined". It's very sensuous genetics. The tone changes when he portrays the head of a sperm entering an egg. The ensuing scene is a battle reminiscent of a Hollywood war film. Mitochondria launch vicious assaults on invaders, slaughtering whatever can be attacked. One wonders how conception ever occurs. It does, of course, but he makes clear that a decline in success is inevitable. Although Sykes builds a compelling case for the roots of our society's ills, there are too many ignored aspects. He challenges the recent paper by a team demonstrating the Y-chromosome's prowess at self-repair. His arguments require further study, but his adamant insistence smacks of desperation, not evidence. Although this book is a valuable study, there's more work to do. With so much of human evolutionary history to be assessed, we can consider this an important, but not a final, step. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 
Summary: THE BIRDS & THE BEES, PART II
Review: Bryan Sykes details the "battle of the sexes" as it begins under a microscope. His analysis and conclusions are daring & thought provoking. An excellent adventure for anyone not bound by traditional beliefs on the beginning of life.
Rating: 
Summary: Bryan's Curse
Review: Elements of this book are quite interesting but you have to wade through an awful lot of waffle to find them. Bryan Sykes belongs to a growing number of scientists who think that we are as interested in them as we are in their science. Sykes' work in human genetics is truly fascinating but is hidden beneath endless descriptions of his own family tree, the architecture of the buildings he works in, his train rides, his musings as he stares out of his office window, and an inexhaustible number of other tediums that his publisher should have edited out. Had they done this, however, the book would have been a quarter of its present length. Theoretically, the main subject of the book is the interplay between the DNA that is exclusively owned by men (the Y chromosome) and that which is exclusively owned by women (mitochondria). The subject is not new and is dealt with much more effectively elsewhere (for example, Sex Wars by Michael Majerus or Y: The Decent of Man by Steve Jones). The subtitle of Sykes' book - A future without men - is misleading as the supposed demise of the Y chromosome is only referred to at the end of the book. It is typical of the media friendly sound bites that Sykes litters his book with. Male homosexuality is another case in point. The subject has become very popular amongst scientists in recent years and some excellent work has been published (Roughgarden, Muscarella, Kirkpatrick). This has only been achieved as (most) scientists have learnt from past mistakes and treated the subject with awareness and sensitivity. Sykes bludgeons in on the act like a bull in a china shop. Male homosexuals are to be explained, Sykes declares, by a mother's failed attempt to destroy male foetuses in utero. This "poisoned kiss" happens as a result of a genetic battle between the Y chromosome and mitochondria. A mother, according to Sykes, performs this 'semi-abortion' to provide additional child-rearing helpers (just as "sterile workers in the hive were doing for their queen bee"). New sound bite; old (and disproved) idea. Homosexuals are not sterile and worker bees are not homosexual. There is not a shred of evidence to support the idea that women are attempting to abort foetuses that eventually become homosexual men. Moreover, there is very little zoological or anthropological evidence to suggest that homosexual offspring act as 'helpers' to their mothers any more than heterosexual offspring do (zoologist Bruce Bagemihl laid that one to rest in his excellent 1999 book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity). These are all tired old chestnuts from last century (not, as Sykes would have us believe, his "own rapidly forming theory"). Both author and publisher should know better. Big ego, little science - this I can just about stand because it is inconsequential. The consistent references to various diseases in Sykes' 'gay genes' chapter, I cannot. Achondroplasia, sickle cell anaemia, coronary heart disease, diabetes, schizophrenia, manic depression, bipolar disorder, haemophilia, colour-blindness, cystic fibrosis, haemochromatosis and Black Death (BLACK DEATH!) are all used to varying degrees to postulate on how gay genes might benefit heterosexuals and therefore get passed through the generations. Homosexuality is guilty by association in the first page of this chapter - "I have worked on inherited diseases for a good part of my scientific career and there is no denying that homosexuality has some of the genetic characteristics that you might find in a serious inherited disease." The disclaimer that follows is pretentious and insulting. It was precisely this kind of unsupported association between disease and homosexuality (frequently made by blinkered scientists) that political and religious fundamentalists leapt on in defence of their extreme homophobia when AIDS broke out in the 1980s ("When it comes to preventing AIDS, don't medicine and morality teach the same lessons?" Ronald Reagan, 2 April 1987). Western governments absorbed these ideas and we now live with the devastating consequences of their muted response to the AIDS epidemic. The catastrophic and continued association between sexuality and disease is chartered in a brilliant book called The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present by Peter Lewis Allen. Sykes obviously hasn't read it but he should before passing further judgment, albeit obliquely, on a section of society that he clearly knows little about.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking, but. . .
Review: I greatly enjoyed The Seven Daughters of Eve, and Adam's Curse had some memorable moments as well. But in the latter, I wondered how such a competent scientist could stray so far from science. Bryan Sykes is a marvelous story teller and I enjoy his train rides and personal anecdotes. I read such books as much for enjoyment as for knowledge. But in this book he seems to be making suppositions that are not backed by anything close to fact. By the time I got to chapter twenty-one, I was wondering what kind of mushrooms Bryan had been eating. Still, I will buy his next book. Adam's Curse was at least thought provoking.
Rating: 
Summary: This book sucks
Review: If you casually read the book's jacket you'd probably think this book is about evolutionary biology:
"In Adam's Curse, Brian Sykes - one of the world's foremost geneticits- investigates the possibility of a man-free future..." Unfortunately its not a book about science at all, although Mr. Sykes would like you to believe that it is for it sure has all the trappings of science, without any of the rigor. Read with a critical eye, the book's jacket tells you exactly what this book is about...one man's (a man who happens to be a scientist) self-hatred about being a man. Here is one (loaded) question the books advertises to answer:
"Are the male trademarks of greed, aggression and promiscuity genentically based?" hmmm...not a loaded question? How about men who are altruistic, caring, and faithful? Simply put this book is crap. One more critisism: As you read this book, you keep saying to yourself..."get to the point already!" The book has been horribly edited (if there was editing at all!).
Rating:
Summary: This book sucks
Review: If you casually read the book's jacket you'd probably think this book is about evolutionary biology:
"In Adam's Curse, Brian Sykes - one of the world's foremost geneticits- investigates the possibility of a man-free future..." Unfortunately its not a book about science at all, although Mr. Sykes would like you to believe that it is for it sure has all the trappings of science, without any of the rigor. Read with a critical eye, the book's jacket tells you exactly what this book is about...one man's (a man who happens to be a scientist) self-hatred about being a man. Here is one (loaded) question the books advertises to answer:
"Are the male trademarks of greed, aggression and promiscuity genentically based?" hmmm...not a loaded question? How about men who are altruistic, caring, and faithful? Simply put this book is crap. One more critisism: As you read this book, you keep saying to yourself..."get to the point already!" The book has been horribly edited (if there was editing at all!).
Rating:
Summary: Sykes needs to retake Bio 101
Review: Mr. Sykes needs to read a small work known as "The Origin of Species" by a Mr. Charles Robert Darwin. Disregarding the post-publication discoveries of mitochondrial DNA's ability to undergo recombination with the Y chromosome and the fact that Y chromosome is capable of some sophisticated self-repair (unlike other chromosomes). Sykes has sadly, started with some false assumptions and jumps to some poor conclusions. He says: "Originally the Y-chromosome was a perfectly respectable chromosome [sic] but its fate was sealed when it took on the mantle of creating males. This probably happened in the early ancestors of mammals, perhaps 100m years ago when a mutation on the ancestor of the Y-chromosome suddenly, and quite by chance, enabled it to switch on the embryonic pathway to male development." This is a false assumption, the chromosome didn't become enabled "quite by chance" on a organism/populational scale. This trait was, according to theory, selected for the advantages it conferred on the species. In accordance with this theory, the ticking time-bomb type of number that Sykes gives as 125K years seems whimsical, especially, given the approximate age of homo sapiens of 250K years. First off, I don't beleive for a second that given the rate of information tech and biotech advancement that anyone can make any predictions more than about 100-200 yrs. in advance. Clearly, we males won't all lose function at the same rate and end at the magical 1% fertility at 125K years. Intrinsically, those who are less fertile won't reproduce as prolifically as those who, for any number of reasons (some of which are already being uncovered), maintain functionality. Interestingly, Sykes cites only one other species who is/has this problem, the vole. This is astonishing for two reasons: 1)Lots of other sexed animals turnover much faster/slower than us reproductively speaking, which would accelerate/decelerate their demise. 2) Lots of other sexed animals developed their sex much earlier/later than us, which would make their extinction much sooner/later than ours. Given the possible spread of species extinction, it's hard to believe that we're the only species with an impending doom in the next 125K years. Additionally, the vole's sex determination is nothing like our own and is arguably not comparable. Finally, Sykes suggests that a solution to the problem is to do away with men using some form of embryonic fusion for reproduction and he merely passes it off as that simple. Once again, Sykes needs to read up on his most fundamental of genetics. Bacteria permeate virtually every environment on the planet. They reproduce quickly and mutate easily. These two facts allow them to explore lots of adaptations quickly. Without mutation, bacteria (and other non-sentient organisms) couldn't adapt. So, some degree of mutation is required in order to cope with a changing world. Now, if you fuse two eggs, you inherently lose the 'hypermutability' of the y chromosome, thus making the species arguably less adaptable (think of all the times you've heard that women find stronger, more-rugged men more attractive because they seem better able to survive). In addition, you also homogenize the human race. So, much more pressing and as yet uncurable, diseases like cervical/ovarian/breast cancer, TSS, depression, and other women-biased diseases become a species-endangering threat. Not to mention that you're talking about the systematic sterilization/elimination of half the world's current population (statistically speaking, the bigger, and stronger half). Given the obvious bias Sykes has against males and the huge gaps in his theory (just with Darwin's theory alone). It's hard to believe he either a)doesn't have a financially or politically motivated agenda or b)isn't just a skewed, bombastic eccentric. Either way, his assertions don't pass the muster of theories laid down over one hundred years ago. To hold this work up as great scientific work would be a lark. His theories are bad even for science-fiction. I was going to give Sykes two stars for his engaging writing ability but then I remembered he's the head of human genetics at Oxford, so his writing should be good and being the head he should have a more sound theory. One star.
Rating:
Summary: The Battle of the Sexes Goes Cellular!
Review: Perhaps it's my ignorance of genetics. Or possibly it's the vertigo-inducing thought that there's a whole set of cellular actors with agendas of their own out there manipulating human behavior. But, for whatever reason, Bryan Sykes' book, "Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men," made my head spin.
Is Sykes' main point in "Adam's Curse": 1) that the Y chromosome is dying out and thank goodness it is, because if not it would eventually destroy us all? 2) that the Y chromosome is dying out and actually that's a bad thing which we'd better do something to stop? 3) that the Y chromosome is neither better nor worse than the X chromosome, each one fighting to replicate itself down the generations (alternative book title suggestion: "Chromosomes Gone Wild: The Battle of the Sexes Goes Cellular!")? 4) that the Y chromosome is truly and veritably a "curse," guiding the Vikings, the Genghis Khans of the world, and men in general to rape, pillage, and burn their way through history? 5) that the species -- and the planet, for that matter -- would be better off if men were completely eliminated and women reproduced with each other? 6) that male-female sexual reproduction is inherently a bad thing? 7) that we we are all just puppets of our chromosomes and DNA, which are using us to their own ends? 8) that all these issues are to be looked at objectively and dispassionately as a scientist? 9) alternatively, that these issues should be considered subjectively and emotionally by a human being with a particular set of beliefs regarding civilization? Ouch, my head hurts!
Whatever the answers to the questions posed above, in my opinion "Adam's Curse" is well worth reading as a fascinating and important, if strange and disturbing, book. Bryan Sykes is certainly a serious scientist (professor of genetics at Oxford University), so his findings and musings -- strange and even outrageous as they appear -- can't be so easily dismissed. Sykes has done a great deal of research, no question about it, and he lays that research out here in a readable, direct, and engaging -- if sometimes rambling -- way.
One caveat: I suspect that to judge whether Sykes is on the right track or not, it would help to know a lot more about the latest developments in genetic science than someone like myself. Still, Sykes is a fine storyteller, and one of the rare scientists -- Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould spring to mind - who can actually explain things in a readable way to non-specialists. The bottom line? If you're interested in the dramatic, fascinating "war between the sexes" at its most fundamental, genetic level, then this is a book you ought to consider reading.
Rating:
Summary: Genes at War
Review: Sykes has done it again with this follow-up of his "Seven Daughters of Eve." "Adam's Curse" is a terrific survey of the latest findings on human genetics as told through the Y chromosome, inherited exclusively through one's father. There are plenty of new ideas here, coupled with a rather informative short course on the twentieth century's additions to Darwin's theory of evolution. This is not a dry recitation of the facts, by any means. It contains his personal story of unraveling some of these puzzles himself, told in an a lively and amusing manner, sure to hold the reader's interest. There are history lessons, such as the one about the lamentable foul-ups of the microscopists trying to count the chromosomes. And Sykes tale of observing his own Y chromosome, carrying out the manipulations with his own hands, is described in some detail. There are stories about his coworkers, including the giant William Hamilton, who probably is second only to Darwin in developing the theory of evolution. But mostly it is the story of the application of modern genetics to the varied populations of the world, the story of their migrations and conquests, and the struggle of the Y chromosome to survive. Sykes' distinct approach is to apply some relatively simple molecular probes to Y chromosomes obtained from many individuals in a variety of populations on a fairly big scale, rather than the other important task, carried on by a myriad of scientists, of trying to understand all the biological minutiae of a single prototypical human. His finding the Y chromosome inherited today by about 500,000 descendants of the founder of the MacDonald, MacDougalls and the MacAlisters Clans is quite fun to read, and the similar tale of his discovering the Sykes clan reveals something about how curiosity driven science can be so deeply satisfying. The stories of the Vikings, the Polynesians, the Great Khan, and conquest by the Spaniards in South America are all covered here and the new insights revealed by their Y chromosomes gives a tantalizing glimpse of those still to come from other parts of the world. I can't wait. Probably most unusual for a book of this sort, is that Sykes, a distinguished scientist, lays on some pretty far out, half-baked, probably wrong, but testable ideas about such things as the origin of homosexuality, the war between the sexes from the perspective of the Y and mitochondrial chromosomes, and even the possible future course of the evolution of the Y to its ultimate demise. This is a refreshing contrast to the plodding certainties of the refereed publications of the academics, hedged about with all the required caveats and cautions. In spite of his sometimes over-anthropomorphized chromosomes, this is an entertaining read, rewarding to readers yearning to understand the human beast.
Rating:
Summary: Too much detail/ waffle
Review: The book is good, but I wonder how much of the waffle contained therein is just stuffing.
We don't need to know about all the details of how beautiful such an such a place is when a scientist goes there to try to retrace the genetic origins of some subject. Nor do we need to know about all the details of the conquests that explain why some men were so much more succesful at getting their genes propagated than other men.
Another thing that I don't like is this anthropomorphic treatment of DNA and genes. It is never appropriate to speak of an atom as "wanting" to be in this or that energy state. Is it any more appropriate to speak of genes as "wanting" to get themselves expressed by any means necessary. Perhaps he wanted to express the situation of succesful DNA being that which survived in large number of copies in a convenient way, but some care should have been taken.
There is some thought provoking discussion about the nature of homosexuality and a genetic basis for it. But, it's made a little less convincing by the use of anthropomorphisms around the action of mitochondrial DNA.
A strong point: He talked about how sexual imbalances in different societies have led large numbers of men to go elsewhere. This has been replicated by Valerie Hudson in a different type of study. But both authors cited the sex imbalance in China and India as prime examples. If the author had wanted to fill up space in the book, a few more details concerning China and/ or India would have been very appropriate instead of the excessive details of Norse conquests.
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