The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey

Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races?

Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind.

• Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine
• The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
• Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Project
• The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time
• Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
• Pandora's Seed: Why the Hunter-Gatherer Holds the Key to Our Survival
• Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins
• Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings (Revised and Updated Edition)
• Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
• Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland