Saxons, Vikings, and Celts

The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland

By: Bryan Sykes

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

WASPs finally get their due in this stimulating history by one of the world's leading geneticists. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts is the most illuminating book yet to be written about the genetic history of Britain and Ireland.

Through a systematic, 10-year DNA survey of more than 10,000 volunteers, Bryan Sykes has traced the true genetic makeup of British Islanders and their descendants. This historical travelogue and genetic tour of the fabled isles, which includes accounts of the Roman invasions and Norman conquests, takes listeners from the Pontnewydd cave in North Wales, where a 300,000-year-old tooth was discovered, to the resting place of "The Red Lady" of Paviland, whose anatomically modern body was dyed with ochre by her grieving relatives nearly 29,000 years ago.

A perfect work for anyone interested in the genealogy of England, Scotland, or Ireland, Saxons, Vikings, and Celts features a chapter specifically addressing the genetic makeup of those people in the United States who have descended from the British Isles.

©2006 Bryan Sykes (P)2006 Tantor

Great content, maddening narration

Interesting content for anyone with ancestry in the Ireland and British isles. Good science paired with a historical perspective. The narrator is American, why? His style is suited more to a children's book with his overly dramatic emphasis, especially at the start- almost makes you want to stop listening. The style does not match the content. If you can bear the narration and the clunky, casual writing style, it's an interesting story of the spread of humans to the isles and beyond to the new world.

Research methods vs conclusions.

A lot of the research methods were discussed, but I enjoyed the conclusions the most.

A must read for anyone learning about ancestry

Loved it. Tracks directly and reinforced info from my own testing. Very well done. Must read.

Excellent read / listen

Excellent both in rich information and writing styles, with just enough humour and context to keep it entertaining as the history itself!

Not sure what I expected... Not a lot of takeaways

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

Fair warning is that I listened to this about 5 months ago. I know that it wasn't a terrible book, but I retained very little and to me that is always an indicator that it wasn't a great book for me. I wanted to read it with a vague goal to expand my Nordic heritage knowledge. The main takeaway for me is that in the regions discussed, you can trace everyone back to a handful of original women. Even though I'm a scientist by profession, this book was not an effortless listen. It seemed to wander and wasn't easy to follow and the points, if they were made, were kind of lost on me I guess. Maybe because I already knew a bit about genetics? Maybe because it was an audio book? Maybe I was distracted?

What three words best describe Dick Hill’s voice?

He has a pleasant timbre, but also always sounds like he's just about to run out of breath. The effect is that I was always a little bit stressed out for him.

Please, more science - less academic politics

I really appreciate the science in Bryan Sykes books and admire greatly his work in genetics. The books I've listened to so far are about 1/4 science and 3/4 oneupmanship of Sykes over his fellow geneticists /or/ wanderings far from the topic. There should be more than enough genetic science and migration history to fill a large tome.

Please, create an abridged version that gets to and stays with the topic. Better, a compendium of Sykes' books that are all trimmed of emotional fat.

Too much inflection

Great story but I missed half of the words due to the narrators inflections. Probably better as a book.

This book was exciting!

The information was presented with care and discernment, revealing a story which everyone must hear.

Full of Insight BUT needs a companion guide

Book worth the time and price! But be prepared with something to take notes on and your maps of the UK and Ireland. The author talks about different areas and regions of the UK and Ireland throughout the book and unless you are very familiar with England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland plus the little islands that surround them, have a map handy. As this was audiobook, I’m not sure what is available with print version but it would be a great idea to have a downloadable companion pdf for listeners with maybe maps, DNA terms, and names of those who the author discussed. I am from USA so listened I to learn more about all my ethnic backgrounds but not familiar with places or pronunciation/spelling to look up afterwards. I am 41% English, 24% Irish, 13 % Scottish, 9% Welsh, and 6% Swedish(which were from an island off the coast that was discussed in the book) so this book was tremendously insightful.

Good Listen

What made the experience of listening to Saxons, Vikings, and Celts the most enjoyable?

The story was easy to follow even if it was some what technical at time but the author made the best of the situation.

What did you like best about this story?

The out come of the story was the best part because it wasn't what I was expecting.

Which scene was your favorite?

My Favorite scene was the part where the author asked a man for a DNA sample and he says , "You don't want me for your study. I'm not form around here". So the author ask him where he was from and the man tells him and the autor has to ask the man where that is and it turns out to be like ten miles down the road.