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lapantofola83's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best book I have ever read, it is as compelling as a great thriller, it is as well written as literature, and it is as candid as the best autobiographies.
Not only, it also explains the most complex technical details in such a down to heart way to make it understandable even to me!
Not only, it also explains the most complex technical details in such a down to heart way to make it understandable even to me!
sbookreader's review against another edition
2.0
The content relating to genetics and biology was very interesting. The sometimes jarringly out-of-place commentary about the author's personal life was less so. As an example, was a summary of each item eaten at a specific dinner really necessary? These random insertions intruded on the main points being made; in the end I finished this book for the sole purpose of having an extra title to add to my reading challenge goal
mo3rgan's review against another edition
2.0
I presumed from the title that this would be a book about neanderthals. Instead, it is about molecular biology.
There’s nothing wrong with molecular biology. At times, I found it interesting to read about the challenges of extracting DNA from fossils, and how Pääbo found ways to accomplish that. This book was recommended by a friend who studies ancient DNA, and I enjoyed learning about her field.
I had just thought that in reading a book called Neanderthal Man I would learn something about the lives of neanderthals, and I mostly did not. This book is maybe 80% procedures, 19% autobiography, and 1% conclusions about neanderthals.
If you care more about conclusions than procedures, you’re better off reading the abstracts from Svante Pääbo’s 2010 articles that form the basis of this book:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5100745/
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09710?__hstc=13887208
There’s nothing wrong with molecular biology. At times, I found it interesting to read about the challenges of extracting DNA from fossils, and how Pääbo found ways to accomplish that. This book was recommended by a friend who studies ancient DNA, and I enjoyed learning about her field.
I had just thought that in reading a book called Neanderthal Man I would learn something about the lives of neanderthals, and I mostly did not. This book is maybe 80% procedures, 19% autobiography, and 1% conclusions about neanderthals.
If you care more about conclusions than procedures, you’re better off reading the abstracts from Svante Pääbo’s 2010 articles that form the basis of this book:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5100745/
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09710?__hstc=13887208
laurastewies's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I find it rather strange how many reviewers here seem disappointed that a memoir contains the story of a man’s life. This isn’t meant to be a scientific paper(he has published plenty of those) nor is the audience other scientists who work in the field (although I’m sure there is plenty for them to enjoy as well).
This is not a text book on Neanderthals. It is the story of how he discovered the Neanderthal genome. That story did not exclusively happen in the lab.
As someone who does not have a science degree and who is normally more interested in the social sciences I thought this book was excellent. It explain sciencenific concepts in a way that did not assume knowledge, nor talk down to the reader. Even when I didn’t understand the technicalities he was explaining I understood what he was doing in each experiment and why.
The story of his life and his musings on what it means to be human enriched the science, helping me better understand the motives of his work, and I’ll alway find it easier to engage with complex topics if I understand the person engaging with them.
5/5, likely to be one of my favorite books of the year.
This is not a text book on Neanderthals. It is the story of how he discovered the Neanderthal genome. That story did not exclusively happen in the lab.
As someone who does not have a science degree and who is normally more interested in the social sciences I thought this book was excellent. It explain sciencenific concepts in a way that did not assume knowledge, nor talk down to the reader. Even when I didn’t understand the technicalities he was explaining I understood what he was doing in each experiment and why.
The story of his life and his musings on what it means to be human enriched the science, helping me better understand the motives of his work, and I’ll alway find it easier to engage with complex topics if I understand the person engaging with them.
5/5, likely to be one of my favorite books of the year.
mark_lm's review against another edition
3.0
Svante Pääbo's memoir that is mainly about the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome. I found the technical details that are present to be most interesting. The author's honesty also gives an interesting look into top tier competitive life science. Imagine being so prominent in your field that you can, on the one hand, run down the journals Nature and Science as being too eager to publish half-baked work, and, on the other hand, call the editors of Nature and Science to pre-announce and promote your upcoming work. Overall, it's well worth reading. I did find the details of the author's sexual proclivities to be especially uninteresting.
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
« Le vilain petit secret bien gardé de la génomique, c’est que nous ne savons encore presque rien de la façon dont le génome s’exprime dans les caractéristiques d’un être vivant. Si je séquençais mon propre génome et le montrais à une généticienne, elle parviendrait à dire approximativement de quelle région de la planète mes ancêtres et moi sommes originaires en faisant correspondre ses variantes aux modèles géographiques de répartition des variantes dans le monde. En revanche, elle serait incapable de dire si je suis intelligent ou stupide, grand ou petit, ou de donner la moindre information importante sur la façon dont je me comporte en tant qu’être humain. »