Uncovering Identity: How DNA Testing is Transforming Our Understanding of Family and Self

Kindle Customer: very interesting. It was hard to put down. I wanted to know the answers to the NPE stories.
Even the technical parts of the book were interesting. Some ethical issues I hadn't thought about.
The only criticism I had was I really wanted to follow the people's stories straight through, not broken up by explanations of DNA or the ethics of the technology.
Maybe two parts of the book would have been better.

United States on Sep 02, 2023

Betsy M.: This in-depth discussion of commercial ancestor DNA testing is interesting in parts but lags in other parts. When the author discussed example cases or wrote of the ethical questions raised in having giant banks of DNA data, I was very interested, but the in-depth discussions of analyzing chromosomes, using a plethora of identifying initials, I was lost and found my mind wandering. Nonetheless, I learned a great deal about the subject, and I am glad I read this book.

United States on Jul 21, 2023

Mrs S A Duncan: So disorganised and rambling

United Kingdom on Jun 10, 2023

N. Clark: Really enjoyed this book. Gave good overall picture of DNA history supported by case studies to illustrate. Well worth a read for anyone interested in the DNA story.

United Kingdom on Dec 26, 2022

EIR: This is a very thoughtfully researched book. It is NOT a how to guide to researching your family, it is not the place to look for support if you've had an unexpected DNA discovery or are embarking on the search as, for example, and adoptee aware of the missing pieces in their genetic origins. While there are some family stories woven into the document, they come alongside a very considered analysis of the ethics and consequences (expected and otherwise) of commercial DNA testing from a variety of perspectives. Truly thought provoking, one of the best pieces of work on the subject I've come across on this topic.

THANK YOU

United Kingdom on Oct 19, 2021

Charity: I was hoping to get a book chockful of stories of different people looking for and/or finding family or being found -- positive, negative and neutral. She did am expert job of weaving Alice Plubech's (sp?) story throughout the book and that was a very intresting story (where Alice ended up discovering that her father who had been an adoptee with no real knowledge of his birth family after being put up for adoption after his mother died when he was quite young, that her father and another baby born the same day in the same hospital were switched at birth). A long, complicated and engrossing story, indeed.

On the down side -- for me -- was that there was a LOT more pages dedicated to trying to convey the science(s) behind the DNA matches, and I found myself just finally flipping past a lot of those pages. I wanted human interest stories. There were a few more -- but nothing super memorable. Had I realized that she did not cover more possibilities, at least, of what can happen when connecting with lost family I probably to be honest would not have bought this book at all.

All that said, the author is a very good writer and even managed to keep my interest enough to say...

United States on Jun 28, 2021

RRF: raises questions about ethics and identity. deep, broad, thorough, and fascinating.

United Kingdom on Jul 04, 2020

Karl: Over the past ten years there have been enormous advances in the study of DNA and its concomitant application to genealogy, giving rise to “genetic genealogists.” Copeland’s work is an interesting, even intense, study of this phenomenon, combining the latest DNA science with individuals’ exploration of these latest advances. One family in particular is examined, but others are cited with reference to the variety of challenges facing the “seekers” as they are called. It is at once a fascinating detective story and a cautionary tale.

It is cautionary in the sense that once someone spits in the vial of a company that sells home DNA analyses to the public, the results can be made public to an extent not suspected by the individual who embarked on what was touted as a fun experiment, say a search for ancestral origins. Occasionally, the outcome of the publication of the test is shocking, sometimes NPE, or not the parent/paternity expected, leading to finding new family, not always appreciated by those found. Unexpected links suddenly pop up. Donor-conceived individuals discover they have many more siblings than they even dreamed of, then start seeking their...

United States on Apr 10, 2020

gammyjill: Author Libby Copeland looks at the DNA testing business and the off-shoots (the problems) in her new book, “The Lost Family”. Is anyone these days not wanting to check their DNA and their family history. But what if you use a testing kit - and there are quite a few on the market - and you discovered you weren’t who you always thought you were, and that - maybe, say - your father might not be the Dad you always thought he was? Well, if you’re the clever sort, you use the info you’ve newly gained to look through the generations that preceded you to solve a mystery.

Copeland’s book is a bit a look at her own testing as well some others’, but she concentrates mostly on the mysterious results from the family of Jim Collins, a purported Irish-American born in 1913, in Brooklyn. Testing which began on his seven children a few years after his death, showed that Jim Collins had no Irish connection whatever. In fact, he presented as an Ashkenazi Jew.

Libby Copeland used the mysterious Jim Collins to show the reader the good and bad parts of genetic testing. She’s a good writer and keeps the scientific jargon to a minimum. It’s a good first book to read about...

United States on Mar 06, 2020