Plotting the Neanderthal genome - Spelbinding

Mixing his own story with the scientific advances that he and his team has made in extracting the Neanderthal genome from thousand years old bones, Prof. Svante Pääbo, wrote an engaging and very interesting account of what might have been uninteresting scientific facts. He helps the nonspecialist listener like myself to understand not only the achievement of constructing the Neanderthal genome but its significance for us today. Who would have thought that while some human beings migrated from Africa to the rest of the world, some stayed behind. The differences between those who migrated and those left behind was a adventurous journey in which these early human beings encountered Neanderthal men and even bred with them. The journey to his conclusions are facinating and even spelbinding at stages.

I think this memoir is very important as demolishes some hypotheses in the field of Science that have become embedded in our make-up. It challenges the listener to think in a new way of him or herself and of our origins. It also challenges concepts like primitive and hopefully will demolish some forms of racial prejudice.

For me relating to Prof. Pääbo on a personal level was very difficult however. I realised that him not being a Christian, bisexual and the way he got his wife, were not in line with my own values. This made it sometimes hard to listen to his book. Yet, I was greatful for his honesty in the book. I think it helped me to be convinced of his integrity. This made his story so much more believable.

Dennis Holland did a superb job in narrating the book. I suspect that his narration has contributed to enhancing the content of the book and making it more accessible to the general listening public.

This book is strongly recommended for anyone who wants to know a bit about Neanderthal men and how our distant cousins impacted on the human race. It comes highly recommended.

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NEANDERTHAL

“Neanderthal Man” offers more than most science dilettantes will want to know about human origins. Three fourths of the author’s book takes one into the science of genetics. The remainder is about science competition, the race for publication, and the personal experience of the author. Pääbo convinces one that desire-to-know, curiosity, and enthusiasm are the ingredients of break-through discoveries. Pääbo’s explanation of how he became involved in cracking the genetic code of an ancient descendant of humankind begins with his interest in Egyptian mummies. Pääbo is curious about the potential of being able to recover genetic material from a mummified body. His curiosity and enthusiasm is symptomatically expressed with late-hour science lab experiments after his regular work day. During the work day he is an intern in a University lab while pursuing a PhD.

In the early years of Pääbo’s career, he pursues his interest by securing mummy samples to test a hypothesis that genetic material cam be recovered after mummification. His research is marginally successful but flawed by inexperience. Despite the marginal success of his early experiments, curiosity and enthusiasm lead Pääbo to an obsessive interest in the science of genetics. As Pääbo’s education and life progresses, the idea of genetically mapping human remains leads to a search for “Neanderthal Man”.

“Neanderthal Man” is an interesting book but more suited for a geneticist than the general public. A dilettante may choose to pass.

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Loved The Process

I loved that Dr. Pääbo walked us through the entire process of his research and how he overcame the challenges he encountered. I also liked that he talked about his anxiety with regards to not publishing early enough.

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Not what I thought

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

It would depend on who that friend was!

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

Very very technical but still I caught a lot of it because he describes things very well. I have a mere bachelors degree so this was... a lot for me. I by no means caught it all but did learn a lot.

Any additional comments?

I really thought this would be more about our ancient ancestors and Neanderthals and give a lot of details about the past. Instead it is very autobiographical and primarily about the author's (admittedly) interesting career and life. As a result I have learned A TON about the science behind the dating of ancient artifacts and fossils. If you are not in the science field it could also be an eye-opening view into the nature of research... rustling up funding and the race to publish... the competition etc.
It's not what I thought it would be but it has definitely been interesting and I have learned new things. Boy do I wish I were smarter though...

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excellent human & scientific story

This is an fascinating and well told story clearly telling not only the scientific challenges of measuring ancient genomes and the issues in running a scientific enterprise but also the human experience and feelings involved.

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dragged

the writing dragged, the story could have been told in a much shorter and satisfying way.

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Covers a lot

Engaging and technical, was a bit hard to follow sometimes but I just went back a bit to review. I think was more of a me issue, not listening close enough at times.

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For Scientifically Inclined Fans of Non-Fiction

This fascinating true story tells of the DNA sequencing of the Neanderthal's genome. It is very detailed in the scientific realm but is written in a very clear and concise manner that makes listening pleasant and easy. I do have a science background with a degree in biochemistry and yet, lots of the explanations went in one ear and out another. Perhaps it was because I don't sit quietly when I listen, perhaps I am more visually oriented, perhaps there was no time to digest the information, perhaps it is way too long since I graduated! It really didn't bother me, and I enjoyed the listen anyway. I felt there was a great deal of information I did take away. I was reminded of the difficulties of doing scientific research--the funding struggles, the cut-throat competitiveness, the need to publish or perish, the egos, the tediousness of long-term research projects. It was all very enlightening. Most importantly, it confirmed to me that I was very lucky that I could not get a job in the research field upon graduation, as I would not have been happy in this arena, for sure.

A reader (me, for instance) might want more information on the anthropological aspects of Neanderthals, that is, their behaviors and more speculation on their disappearance. That is just not the purpose of this book, and it should be understood from the description. It is autobiographical in nature and focuses almost entirely on the research leading to the momentous accomplishments of Svante Paabo, that is, the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome.

I was, however, rather surprised at the very personal information that the author added to his book, namely his bisexuality and his relationship and ultimate marriage to a fellow researcher's wife. I am not sure why it was included but perhaps and most likely he comes from a more open culture.

The narration was excellent.

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Rely fascinating book

I found the book really interesting, the topic is by itself fascinating but the storytelling is fantastic and the narrator did a great job.
I particularly enjoyed the part where after all the work they get to the conclusion of whether we carry Neanderthal genes, I found that an example of science at its best

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exciting subject

being already familiar with the science of this exciting story, it was nonetheless exciting to reexperience it as an audiobook. the subject couldn’t be more exciting to me. i share Svante’s obsessive interest on the subject.

i have one significant criticism that almost stopped me from listening several times: there is a very non subtle thread of white male supremacy throughout the story. by chapter 14, the only mentions of anything but white male names (of which there are endless mentions) was a reference to a sexual connection with his future wife and a reference to an uncooperative woman working at some archives in Dubrovnik. it’s clear from the book that Svante populated his lab with only white european males for decades. all his friends, all his collaborators, all his coworkers, everyone mentioned with esteem is a white european male. towards the end of the book there are occasional mentions of some chinese male postdocs and some female head of a biotech company with whom he interacted. and he describes the chauvinist banter in the lab with nostalgia and how well they skied etc. all things only associated with upper class white males. i’m pretty disgusted. i forgive his tone of self aggrandizement but the exclusion of women from his laboratory is horrible and he seems not even to realize it. it’s just how it should be to him. yuck.

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