Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes in Science and Inquiry

Feb 18, 2014 Mag rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science

What a fascinating ride! From working on the genome itself, through the way research institutions work to the personality of Paabo himself.
The book is written very much in the same convention as The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World, which is about the competition between Venter and Collins to sequence the genome. Paabo's book has the same unabashed honesty about rivalry in the science world, but here it's not written by journalist about the scien ...more

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Jun 05, 2015 Charlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: biology, evolution, general-science, geology, biography

This book provided a lot of technical detail about mtDNA, which was very enjoyable and educational. I am more familiar with nuclear DNA and was happy to gain a more in depth understanding of mtDNA while enjoying a great story. More surprising though was the amount of personal detail shared by the author. I loved his candid and matter-of-fact way of writing about his personal relationships and his interpretation of the politics that accompany academic competition. Great read.

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Dec 07, 2014 Clay rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Tremendous! Paabo does a great job at outlining the tedium and excitement of science. He happens to have made discoveries with his science that few other people can even dream of. A great read for those interested in genetics, human history, and knowing just how much Neanderthal/Human gene mixing occured.

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Jan 30, 2015 Daphne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own-audio

A wonderful mix of memoir and science. I found it incredibly interesting learning about the life and scientific process from someone who has been a major player in the most important evolutionary discoveries in the last decade.

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Feb 18, 2014 Steve Van Slyke rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, paleoanthropology, evolution, genetics, kindle

Even though the author attempts to bring molecular genetics down to a level where non-scientists like myself could follow what was going on, I still, at times, felt a little fogged over by some of the details. However, that was a minor distraction from a very interesting work that has several threads: a personal history, the history of a new scientific institute, the history of the science of archaeogenetics, and finally the history of not one but two distant cousins of modern man.

I remember how ...more

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