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This book has something to intrigue geneticists, genealogists, science fiction fans, feminists and others looking to explore the edges of our human reality particularly as related to differences between the sexes. The author is a geneticist with a flare for tracing probabilities of change he has found and that face the male chromosomal and genetic future.
It got my attention because of the title which sounded clearly like a pending threat facing males including me. Most of the book addresses the title subject in detail in many ways in and out of the laboratory. Initially, in the lab at Oxford, he finds characteristics of his male chromosome which cause him to ask questions about details of the family name – Sykes – in relationship to what he sees in the lab regarding his genetic profile. Who were his forebears in terms of his genetic and geneaological history? Thus Chapter 1.
From that point he travels to towns in Great Britain seeking to verify his family history as it appeared in his own genetic profile and another Sykes he had met also a scientist. In this part of the book he visits with other Sykes, looks through secondary school records, etc. These chapters constitute a practicum on tracing ones own genealogy. In these explorations he encounters others curious about the history of their families as revealed in laboratory genetic studies. As a result he expands his horizons to look at patterns for other families such as the MacDonald’s of Scotland. Such beginnings lead him to continue a journey researching Scottish clans and their being influenced by Viking raids. This part of the book provides the reader with even more ideas of paths to follow in creating family histories but also how the historical elements are related to genetic histories. That, of course, means he not only looked at hard records but collects swabs from mouths of various individuals to articulate relationships between historical, genetic, genealogical, and physiological features. These chapters are very informative about ingredients of family histories.
Following this he tries to answer questions about who were first settlers of Iceland. From these diversions he returns to more questions of how
chromosomal differences between males and females influence human generations they produce and how this history reflects the chromosomal patterns of diseases and personal characteristics. Along the way he begins to ask about a longer term future of the human race because of genetic permutations and changes generation to generation. It is in these chapters he raises additional questions into which he ventures in increasing detail all leading to more questions raised related to the book’s title. The first reflections are not very promising for the human male.
By the time one reaches chapter 16 we begin to see the immense impact of the male chromosome on history of the world. That, in turn, provides insights into such things as Mongol raids under Genghis Khan throughout the far east and into eastern Europe. Marks of the male Khan ‘Y’ chromosome are genetically everywhere evident in affected populations. Thus, the reader will have seen this type of influence beginning with his family, moving on to much larger families such as the MacDonalds, and broadly covering the ubiquitous influence of Viking and Mongol raids. The genetic mixing and the resultant record is useful in tracing history of these times down to individual families though he ventures in less detail than provided for the Sykes and Mac Donalds.
The really interesting parts of the book, for me, are found in the last four chapters. In these he verges on writing science fiction as he speculates, without wandering far afield of hard science, about the long term fate of males in human society. Essentially he concludes male genes may be a chromosomal dead end for their future history. The final chapter title hints at where he will go next – “Lifting the Curse”. The speculations in this chapter are mind expanding but not conclusive. There is a smidgen more offered for thought on the last page – The Afterword.
This book is a logical complement to his others including “Seven Daughters of Eve” and “Saxons, Vikings & Celts”.
- Audible Audiobook
- Listening Length: 12 hours and 7 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Audible.com Release Date: June 29, 2012
- Language: English, English
- ASIN: B008FZDMCU
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#112,334 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
- #3965 in Evolution (Books)
- #454 in Biology (Audible Books & Originals)
- #1534 in General Gender Studies
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