The New York Times Book Review - Misha Angrist
…impressive…This is not a textbook (although it should be)…As popular science writing, A Brief History is nothing less than a tour de force—a heady amalgam of science, history, a little bit of anthropology and plenty of nuanced, captivating storytelling. While Rutherford…makes both his ambition and cheekiness clear in the title, he somehow manages to deliver on its great promise…but he does so in such an entertaining and engaging fashion that the book never feels pedantic…Ever the scientist, Rutherford never sacrifices data on the altar of a good story: A Brief History is full of qualifiers, complications and "we just don't know" that will no doubt disappoint white supremacists and genetic determinists of all stripes.
Publishers Weekly
★ 08/21/2017
British geneticist Rutherford (Creation) looks closely at the new field of genomics, scrutinizing the voluminous data being generated by researchers and what it says about us and our ancestors. Methodologically, he seeks to introduce genomics into older fields, “namely history, archaeology, paleoanthropology, medicine, and psychology.” For example, close study of the genetic composition of living and dead individuals demonstrates that, though the Vikings controlled much of England for 200 years, they rarely reproduced with the people they subjugated. Similar analysis, Rutherford claims, leads scholars to believe that a single population coming across the Bering Strait 24,000 years ago should be seen as the ancestors of all indigenous people in North and South America. Rutherford also explains why race isn’t a valid concept scientifically: “I am unaware of any group of people on Earth that can be defined by their DNA in a scientifically satisfactory way.” He argues persuasively that much of what is known about genetics is critical at the population level but much less so at the individual level, asserting that our ignorance has led to a “swing from genetic determinism to genetic denialism.” Rutherford raises significant questions and explains complex topics well, engaging readers with humor and smooth prose. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.)
Jennifer Ouellette
"A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is equal parts informative, engaging, and frequently surprising—a must-read for fans of big-picture popular science."
Richard Dawkins
"Adam Rutherford’s book is well-written, stimulating, and entertaining. What’s more important, he consistently gets it right."
Nature
"Rutherford unpeels the science with elegance."
Apple’s iBooks Best Book of September 2017
"[Rutherford’s] head-on, humane approach to such charged and misunderstood topics as intelligence and race make this an indispensable contribution to the popular science genre."
Carl Zimmer
"One of my big obsessions as a reporter is our expanding understanding of our genetic history, thanks to incredible advances like sequencing Neanderthal genomes. Rutherford, a British geneticist and journalist, presents a great survey of this fast-moving field."
Matt Ridley
"Genetics is opening up the past as never before—Adam Rutherford puts the genes in genealogy brilliantly."
Guardian
"An effervescent work, brimming with tales and confounding ideas carried in the ‘epic poem in our cells.’"
The Wall Street Journal
"A National Bestseller
A National Geographic Best Book of 2017
An Amazon Best Book of 2017
2017 Foreword INDIES Gold Winner
Winner of the 2018 Thomas Bonner Book Prize
A New York Public Library Book of the Day
"A family portrait for all humanity . . . This enjoyable book has a great deal to say about our genetic code—or, more precisely, about how our knowledge of genetics is misused and misconstrued. . . . [Rutherford] proves an enthusiastic guide and a good storyteller."
Shelf Awareness
"Rutherford manages to reveal fresh (and controversial) assessments of human history and dispel long-held beliefs with clarity, enthusiasm and humor."
Scientific American
"A sweeping new view of the human evolution story, using the latest science of DNA as the central guide . . . . Recommended."
Newsday
"A shining example of science writing at its best . . . will change the way you think about human evolution."
Forbes
"Provides a good survey of the science of genomics and how it’s changing the story of human evolution."
PZ Myers
"Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is the book we need."
Nature Lib
"Rutherford unpeels the science with elegance."
From the Publisher
A National Bestseller A National Geographic Best Book of 2017 An Amazon Best Book of 2017 2017 Foreword INDIES Gold Winner Winner of the 2018 Thomas Bonner Book PrizeA New York Public Library Book of the Day “A family portrait for all humanity . . . This enjoyable book has a great deal to say about our genetic code—or, more precisely, about how our knowledge of genetics is misused and misconstrued. . . . [Rutherford] proves an enthusiastic guide and a good storyteller.”—The Wall Street Journal “An effervescent work, brimming with tales and confounding ideas carried in the ‘epic poem in our cells.’ ”—Guardian “Rutherford raises significant questions and explains complex topics well, engaging readers with humor and smooth prose.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review “A sweeping new view of the human evolution story, using the latest science of DNA as the central guide . . . . Recommended.”—Scientific American “Rutherford unpeels the science with elegance.”—Nature “A shining example of science writing at its best . . . will change the way you think about human evolution.”—Newsday “Adam Rutherford’s book is well-written, stimulating, and entertaining. What’s more important, he consistently gets it right.”—Richard Dawkins “One of my big obsessions as a reporter is our expanding understanding of our genetic history, thanks to incredible advances like sequencing Neanderthal genomes. Rutherford, a British geneticist and journalist, presents a great survey of this fast-moving field.”—Carl Zimmer “Genetics is opening up the past as never before—Adam Rutherford puts the genes in genealogy brilliantly.”—Matt Ridley “Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is the book we need.”—PZ Myers “[Rutherford’s] head-on, humane approach to such charged and misunderstood topics as intelligence and race make this an indispensable contribution to the popular science genre.”—Apple’s iBooks Best Book of September 2017 “Provides a good survey of the science of genomics and how it's changing the story of human evolution.”—Forbes “An enthusiastic history of mankind in which DNA plays a far greater role than the traditional ‘bones and stones’ approach, followed by a hopeful if cautionary account of what the recent revolution in genomics foretells . . . Often quirky but thoughtful—solid popular science.”—Kirkus Reviews “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is equal parts informative, engaging, and frequently surprising—a must-read for fans of big-picture popular science.” —Jennifer Ouellette, author of Me, Myself, and Why: Searching for the Science of Self “Rutherford manages to reveal fresh (and controversial) assessments of human history and dispel long-held beliefs with clarity, enthusiasm and humor.”—Shelf Awareness “A rollercoaster tour of human history and evolution . . . Rutherford is a bold, confident storyteller.”—Genome “Magisterial, informative, and delightful.”—Peter Frankopan “Rutherford is a gifted storyteller; he interweaves layperson’s genetics with the personal histories of scientists, explorers, and historical figures to create an extraordinarily readable book.”—Choice
Library Journal
09/01/2017
Human genome studies indicate the history of our species is a tangled one. Our ancestors not only inbred frequently but also interbred with Neanderthals, Denisovans, and perhaps other early hominids yet unidentified. As Rutherford (Creation) notes, for Homo sapiens, "there was no beginning, and there are no missing links." In addition, while early genetic researchers interpreted human variation through a Eurocentric and often racist lens, contemporary molecular genetics reveals "we all are a bit of everything, and we come from all over." The author, however, has a clear inclination toward European, particularly British, incidents and examples. At times, Rutherford succumbs to editorializing on peripheral topics, including creationism, epigenetics, and genetic determinism, but he continues to be a witty writer throughout, effectively using typography to illustrate and explain genetic concepts. Included is a brief glossary of genetic terms. VERDICT By turns amusing and provocative, this book, which may bruise the egos of a few genealogists, will appeal to both popular and technical science readers.—Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
Kirkus Reviews
2017-08-07
An enthusiastic history of mankind in which DNA plays a far greater role than the traditional "bones and stones" approach, followed by a hopeful if cautionary account of what the recent revolution in genomics foretells.According to British geneticist and science writer Rutherford (Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself, 2013), "we have literally thousands of ancient, hardened bones, found all around the world; many in the nursery of the human story in eastern Africa, many in Europe, and the more we look the more we find." They reveal clues about how our ancestors looked, hints about their behavior, and vague, contradictory hypotheses about their relation to our species. Deciphering DNA from these relics turns up more specific information about "how our evolution has proceeded." Neanderthals were close relatives. They separated from a common ancestor around 500,000 years ago and met and interbred with us throughout Eurasia, dying out 30,000 years ago and leaving a small percentage of their DNA in ours. Amazingly, DNA from a single finger bone uncovered another subspecies, the Denisovans, which wandered Asia at the same time, leaving a sprinkling of DNA in Pacific Islanders and Australian Aborigines. Turning to the present, Rutherford recounts this century's spectacular discoveries in genomics, pausing regularly to grind axes. For readers who wonder if racism has any basis in genetics, he explains at length that it hasn't. He examines companies that offer to analyze an individual's DNA and reveals why many of their claims are nonsense. Casting doubt on the steady stream of media announcements that scientists have discovered the gene for…addiction, homosexuality, height, anxiety, obesity, etc…the author emphasizes that dramatic advances in human well-being through genomics are guaranteed, if not quite yet. "Life is the accumulation and refinement of information embedded in DNA," writes Rutherford. "We are the data." Often quirky but thoughtful—solid popular science.
