The Seven Daughters of Eve

Rating:
Summary: Fun Book - Easy to Read - Thought Provoking.
Review: Not being a scientist, I thought that I was in over my head at first - he starts off about finding the "Man in the Ice" and then how he had been involved in getting DNA from very old bones (a few hundred years old) and then how he ended up doing mitochondrial DNA research in the Polynesian Islands. Though I could understand what he was saying, I couldn't see how they related to each other or why he mentioned them. He pulls them all together brilliantly though as each activity did eventually have something to do with his mitochondrial research in Europe.

He fully explains (in a dumbed down version, I'm sure) for us regular folks what he did, what he found and what significance it has. In fact, I got so interested that I devoured the book within three evenings (fast for me). The conjectural fiction of the lives of the seven women were actually a small part of the book, just a few chapters in the back. The last chapter speaks of the world at large and the other clan mothers briefly (there are 26 others if you consider the whole world). Some of those concepts, or specifically their ramifications, are very interesting also and I would love to see more on them. In particular, how all clan mothers tie back to one ultimate clan mother and, given the results of the study, that there can not possibly be anything truly fitting the modern conception of separate "races".

Fun book. Easy to read. Thought provoking.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting stuff, but can be boring at times.
Review: I thought this book was interesting how they found the genetic information on our ancestors. I like how he explained his story on the seven daughters and how DNA is passed on from the parents to the child. There were some points in the story where it got boring for me because I am not a big scientist or anthrologist fan, but I'm into family history and I thought this book will help me understand better how DNA was discovered through this book. I can say I learned a lot and it opened a new world of knowledge for me to understand our lives.

Rating:
Summary: Gets humdrum with the Seven Daughter stories
Review: They all sound pretty much alike. The only one that seems even remotely different is Jasmine's. Alone of the seven she isn't a pure cavewoman.

Rating:
Summary: Where Is Whitman When You Need Him?
Review: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"

...would have been a most appropriate subtitle. I was fascinated at the ability of mitochondrial DNA to ferret out our common ancestry. Readable, informative, entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: I have to agree
Review: Some parts of this book are unnecessary and stupid, much of the book is an egotrip, and the worst part of it is the misplacesd section on the dna study of the Polynesians, who are not Europeans at all.

Rating:
Summary: Book gives new meaning to the word "unnecessary"!!!!
Review: The other reviewer who pointed out the unnecessary bits (some of which were also dumb) was right on the money.

Rating:
Summary: Book is full of unnecessary bits and dumb bits
Review: 1)The bit about his love of hamsters as a kid was both unnecessary and dumb2)The fictional stories bit (last half of the book) was both dumb and unnecessary but mostly just dumb3) The bit on Anastasia was unnecessary4) The bit on the neanderthals was unnecessary (it's been pointed out, we already knew they weren't in our background, at least not much)5)The gripes with the other scientists was unnecessary6)The Polynesian DNA bit was unnecessary (and totally out of place)I could go on but I've made my point. Book is a total bummer.