A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes

By: Adam Rutherford

Narrated by: Adam Rutherford

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

A National Geographic Best Book of the Year

In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species - births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex.

But those stories have always been locked away - until now.

Who are our ancestors? Where did they come from? Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our DNA has completely upended what we thought we knew about ourselves. Acclaimed science writer Adam Rutherford explains exactly how genomics is completely rewriting the human story - from 100,000 years ago to the present.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Adam Rutherford (P)2018 Tantor

Thought provoking and interesting

I enjoyed this listen. The topic is of great interest to me and was easy to understand so anyone would enjoy it. It always interests me to think about who I am and how I came to be. When I stop and think about my past generations and how I am the total sum of those generations, I find it profounding. This audiobook goes into some of how I became me.

Excellent

Excellent book. Don’t get lost in the genetics foray when the book is 65-70% complete, it’s worth pushing through to the end

A good review of where we are in genetics

A good review of where we are in genetics for the layperson. It reads more like a current event piece for the different divisions of genetics and how they are connected and what they still have to offer, than a history book. Adam is a wonderful narrator; very easy on the ears and even out-loud funny at times. He's obviously a natural teacher.

Solid popular science

This book took me a little bit to get into but then I was hooked. I didn't want it to end. It's the conversational, narrative nonfiction, mix of science facts and historical antidotes that I really enjoy. Entertaining and informative

Astonishing breadth of information easy to understand

This book covered areas that I always wondered about, particularly genetics, but never understood completely enough. I like the fast pace and easy to understand narrator. Highly recommended!

Enthusiastic comprehensive view of us

The author's enthusiasm and research of the subject of genetics and its relevance is superb. It is interesting, nuanced with a myriad of thoughts and components.

My only concern/ annoyance was what he thinks is comedic. If the author does not understand something then he should not presume it is unimportant, wrong, unexplored, or unscientific. A few times he likened astrology (5000 years old) to an unscientific expression. I know several PhD in astrophysics who would shudder at what the author thought is the gamut of astrology.

It’s a good mix of biology and social evolution

I read “The Seven Daughters of Eve” which centered around Mitrochondrial DNA. By Bryan Skyes a few years ago. It was informative yet appeared to be enamored with Europe being the beginning of Mankind. It was explicit about it, yet it’s how I read it.

A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived while more involved in description of gene mutation or alteration which may not be easy to follow, has a good balance between evolution and impact on social behavior possibly rooting from misunderstandings or sheer lack ok knowledge. I highly recommend it to parents so they can raise informed children.

Bravo!

Technical, yet easy to understand. I particularly enjoyed the frequent, subtle and not so subtle humor. Will definitely listen to this again. Bravo!

Sit back and listen to the sweep of human history

Rutherford does a great job of summing up the pieces of human biological history. He weaves together lots of facts and observations that add to a detailed picture of the sweep and pageantry.

makes me want to take the plunge

this bòok is a great listen... this teacher pushes you to want to know more about human biology.