The Lost Family

How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are

By: Libby Copeland

Narrated by: Cindy Kay

A deeply reported look at the rise of home genetic testing and the seismic shock it has had on individual lives

You swab your cheek or spit into a vial, then send it away to a lab somewhere. Weeks later you get a report that might tell you where your ancestors came from or if you carry certain genetic risks. Or the report could reveal a long-buried family secret and upend your entire sense of identity. Soon a lark becomes an obsession, an incessant desire to find answers to questions at the core of your being, like "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?" Welcome to the age of home genetic testing.

In The Lost Family, journalist Libby Copeland investigates what happens when we embark on a vast social experiment with little understanding of the ramifications. Copeland explores the culture of genealogy buffs, the science of DNA, and the business of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe, all while tracing the story of one woman, her unusual results, and a relentless methodical drive for answers that becomes a thoroughly modern genetic detective story.

The Lost Family delves into the many lives that have been irrevocably changed by home DNA tests - a technology that represents the end of family secrets. There are the adoptees who've used the tests to find their birth parents; donor-conceived adults who suddenly discover they have more than 50 siblings; hundreds of thousands of Americans who discover their fathers aren't biologically related to them, a phenomenon so common it is known as a "non-paternity event", and individuals who are left to grapple with their conceptions of race and ethnicity when their true ancestral histories are discovered. Throughout these accounts, Copeland explores the impulse toward genetic essentialism and raises the question of how much our genes should get to tell us about who we are. With more than 30 million people having undergone home DNA testing, the answer to that question is more important than ever.

Gripping and masterfully told, The Lost Family is a spectacular book on a big, timely subject.

©2020 Libby Copeland. Published in 2020 by Abrams Press, an imprint of ABRAMS, Inc. All rights reserved (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Wonderful Insight

I’m a recent NPE and I loved hearing other stories about people whose lives were changed from DNA testing.

Interesting and timely read!

Really enjoyed this book! Libby Copeland did a nice job in explaining genetics and genealogy in a way that was simple, but also highlighted the nuances well. Really interesting read for anyone considering DNA testing.

Catnip to genealogists

Well written, deeply engaging survey of the advances in genetics, DNA and the companies that make it easy for us to build our family trees. And if that is not intriguing enough, there is a family mystery woven through the book. Great read.

Wonderfully written!

Libby did a wonderful job of keeping the reader interested. She wove together detailed scientific information, revealing stories, and psychological issues that arise when DTC testing doesn’t go as planned.

Fine

A lot more scientific information than I was expecting. The main story is split up so it was a little hard to follow listening to it, figuring out who's who. Even some of the smaller stories were hard to keep names straight. The narration was fine. Overall it was fine, I only chose it as a book to read with my mother who had her own DNA mystery.

Interesting and enlightening

My initial, gut response to the ads for "Give Us Your DNA, and We'll Give You Your Heritage. It'll Be Fun!", was "No, No Thank You". I didnt have to think through all my objections to know it was just too intrusive. Reading this book just confirmed my instinct.
Let me say that I enjoy the study of ancestry and I am not worried about any big surprises, certainly not in my immediate family. I'm also not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm not anti government. But I do fugure my DNA, along with plenty of other info is no doubt already out there and accessible to the government or anyone else who really wants it. All the same, why hand it over on a silver platter?
All these sites gathering our DNA for fun at profit set off alarms in the back of my history loving head, and this book just confirmed many of the reasons why.
One thing I hadn't really thought of was that you arent just sharing your own unique info, but that of everyone related to you, even distant relatives, many you know nothing about. You might be intruding on their priivacy.
I can understand why others, especially those looking for answers, might feel differently. To them I say, read this book first, or just think through some of the possible consequences, then. if it still seems important to you, go for it.
But for me, it seems like privacy is going the way of good manners and respect for the social contract. I personally dont want to be a part of rushing them out the door.

You may not be who you thought you were!

A great read and lots of information. Made me feel better at not being “more Italian”

5 stars in every way

Excellent and informative book. Excellent narration.
I will listen again.
The conclusion of the book provides a resource for updates to findings.

The perfect title

As someone who got unexpected results when just taking the test to find out more about my ancestry, Copeland explains so well the landmines that can explode when just taking the test for fun. I no longer freely encourage people to take a test without explaining the risks. The book is a great overview of genetics, how commercial tests came about, what can be " found out" and how to find out more with anecdotes throughput.

Surprised

I was surprised by how much this book captivated my attention. The author does a through, yet entertaining, look at the challenging information coming out of the burgeoning DNA heritage companies. She carefully examines the pros and cons without trying to convince the reader to back either one. Rather, the purpose is to make the reader aware of all the issues so that you may be informed. The narrator presents the material in a clean dispassionate voice making this a must read book.