Unlock the Secrets of the Americas: A Genetic History of the People of the Americas

R. R. Miller: Great book, readable but scientific at the same time. Advances in genetics and what they show of Native American origin and migration is fascinating.

United States on Dec 20, 2023

Menoc: This was a gift for someone who is really into paleo anthropology and wanted a book on early man in the Americas. He has read it SIX TIMES! He claims the first two times he skimmed through it but actually went back another four times. I’d say he liked it.

United States on Nov 29, 2023

WLL: easy read, brings a different and well thought out reasoning on the lives and living situations so long ago .
Discusses new science discoveries and current studies of native peoples and parallels with todays native tribes .traditions, both oral history and passed on living and hunting practices

United States on Nov 12, 2023

Warm feelings: Learn another from this book about the native people's in America

Canada on Nov 12, 2023

William Wykoff: Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas Hardcover – February 8, 2022
by Jennifer Raff
I know of no oral tradition among native Americans east of the Mississippi that tells the story of the migration of Asiatic peoples across the Bering land bridge into North America. Yet the evidence from linguistics and archaeology is overwhelming, now confirmed by DNA research, that the First Peoples in North and South America originated in Siberia. This book by Jennifer Raff serves to bridge the gap between modern science and oral traditions; for instance, she cites an example where the DNA analysis of excavated human remains helped to justify land claims. She castigates archaeologists of the past who ignored and failed to respect native traditions and intelligence. She advocates the participation of surviving native communities in decisions regarding the utilization of excavated human remains. She devotes a chapter to genetics laboratory methods where population history is derived from fragments of ancient genomes derived from the samples. She is an active participant in the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics wherein indigenous students learn not only...

United States on Oct 23, 2023

Caio: This is not a book about the genetic clues regarding the settlement of the Americas. Rather, the book is mainly about the author personal experiences, the views of indigenous people regarding the dead found on their lands, a discussion about past ideas on the peopling of the Americas… A book about the genetic origins of a people this is not. Books that talk about the topic in general such as Reich’s in fact may have more information about the genetics underlying the first migrations into the Americas.

Brazil on Apr 16, 2023

D.R. Spee: I read this book in the hope to learn more about the human migration into the America's. I found this information in two of the nine chapters in this book. The other chapters describe the writers personal experiences and (for some people a bit woke) opinions about her profession and give an overview of invalidated older theories. This book could have been much thinner (and by that means better).

United Kingdom on Mar 09, 2023

Raphael Ketani: I bought the hard cover book. There is an Introduction. The book is divided into three parts. Part One contains the first three chapters. Part Two contains chapters four and five. Part Three contains chapters six to nine. Following this, there is an Epilogue chapter. The Introduction and the other chapters (not including the six-page Epilogue) vary in length from 13 to 52 pages. The typical chapter length is in the twenties. The chapters are followed by Acknowledgments, Notes and Index sections. The chapters do not have titles. This is the only scientific themed book I have ever read that was written for the general public, but doesn’t have titles. Very strange. Chapter five has photographic plates and chapters one to three and six to eight have figures.

However, the figures depicting archeological sites in Asia and the western hemisphere have lettering and numbering which is very small (number one font?). I had to use a five times magnifier to see what was written. This detracted from my enjoyment of the book. Some readers may skip the figures because of this problem.

Dr. Jennifer Raff writes accurately about the various archeological discoveries that have been...

United States on Jul 14, 2022

Johnny Darkness: The DNA evidence presented here and its significance for the history of First Nations/Indians/ is interesting and new and, if true, would alter the history of the Peoples. Also, this book is well-written and not too technical--it is an "easy" read. My complaint is that the DNA studies and their ramifications ('the genetic history') seem to consume about 50% of the book (I did not measure, it's just the feeling); the remainder is comprised of some explanations of the effects of poor scholarship and exploitation and, inherently, a plea for more understanding of the trials of the First Nations and the importance of their history to them and to us who are not First Americans. Fair enough and worthy. There is also explanation of how DNA extraction is performed with very clear step-by-step process for entering a laboratory when working with small and ancient sources, such as a tooth--I did not mind reading it, though, in a way, I did not need to know this. I would have preferred the book to either be shorter (in keeping with the title) or for more information (should it exist) to have filled the final pages. Still, ultimately, the book is a worthwhile read and should sharpen our...

Canada on Mar 16, 2022

Stephen McDaniel: ORIGIN is, in many ways, an excellent summary of current archeological and genetic progress in determining how and when the American continents came to be occupied by our species. Though many controversial points remain, the explosive growth of the ability to extract and analyse ancient DNA samples has fostered a huge leap in our knowledge of ancient peoples. The author, a geneticist herself, takes us through the process of such an extraction, and gives excellent insight into the meticulousness of the research. The story of ancient expansion and migration is frankly exciting.
Several aspects of the book are less than ideal. I bought the Kindle version. Apparently, no editor has ever looked at it. The number of mistakes is appalling. Parts of the text are very difficult to wade through without repeated tries.
The author is doing excellent work trying to repair the damage caused by previous scientists in ignoring the concerns of indigenous peoples. But she rather beats it to death in every chapter. The general reader can applaud her concern without wishing to read about it on every other page.
The last point relates again to editing, this time in the text itself. The...

Germany on Feb 11, 2022