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The cover of Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

David Reich

Ancient DNA reveals a human past shaped by repeated migration and mixture, overturning myths of pure ancestry while clarifying what genetics can and cannot say about identity.

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13 parts, about 29 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Shows how ancient DNA overturned clean family trees, revealing repeated migration, replacement and mixture from Neanderthals to Bronze Age pastoralists
  • Explains the tests behind ghost populations, steppe migrations and sex biased ancestry without pretending genes reveal language, culture or individual worth
  • Confronts the ethics of sampling human remains and the misuse of genetic differences, ending with a case for curiosity joined to humility

Who it is for

  • Readers curious about human origins, migration and ancient DNA
  • Students of genetics, archaeology, anthropology or history
  • Anyone weighing what ancestry can explain about race, identity, health and inequality

What the summary covers

  1. The Ancient DNA Revolution2 min
  2. A Genome Is a Mosaic2 min
  3. The Neanderthal Reversal3 min
  4. Denisovans and Ghost Lineages2 min
  5. Repeated Turnover in West Eurasia2 min
  6. Farmers and Pastoralists Remake Europe2 min
  7. The Mixtures That Formed India3 min
  8. Peopling the Americas and Sharing Authority3 min
  9. East Asia, Oceania, and Missing Evidence2 min
  10. Africa Beyond the Origin Story2 min
  11. Genomes Record Inequality2 min
  12. Ancestry, Race, and Individual Worth3 min
  13. A Second Archaeological Revolution1 min

Recommended by

  • Siddhartha MukherjeePhysician and biologist, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
    Reich's book is sobering and clear-eyed
  • Henry Louis Gates Jr.Harvard professor and host of Finding Your Roots
    Beautifully written, it reads like a detective novel
  • Venki RamakrishnanNobel laureate in chemistry and structural biologist
    David Reich uses the power of modern genome analysis to show the fascinating complexity of human migration and history.

About the author

  • David ReichHarvard geneticist and pioneer in ancient human DNA research
    • Born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area.
    • Received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard College in 1996 and completed doctoral work at Oxford in 1999.
    • After two years in the Harvard MIT medical program, he pursued postdoctoral genomics research at the Whitehead Institute and MIT Center for Genome Research.
    • Joined Harvard Medical School in 2003 and later joined Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences in human evolutionary biology.
    • His laboratory opened the first United States facility dedicated to genome wide human ancient DNA analysis in 2013.

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