Category Archives: Book Reviews

Yet another interview up (on Blueprint)

Posted on October 18, 2018 by gcochran9

Talking with James Miller about Blueprint, here.

Posted in Book Reviews | 63 Comments

Live Not By Lies

Posted on April 8, 2018 by gcochran9

The Genomics of Race and Identity Reich starts out strong, telling the story of his work on identifying African-origin alleles that drive increased prostate cancer risk in African-Americans – and the dumbshit responses he got from his colleagues. He mentions … Continue reading →

Posted in Ashkenazi Jews, Book Reviews, Genetics | 188 Comments

Who We Are: #4 Denisovans

Posted on April 4, 2018 by gcochran9

In Chapter 3, Reich talks about the discovery of the Denisovans, a sister archaic group to the Neanderthals that lived in eastern Asia. It all started out with a pinky bone found in a cave in southern Siberia. The DNA … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaic humans, Book Reviews, Denisovans | 64 Comments

“Who We Are: #3 Neanderthals

Posted on April 3, 2018 by gcochran9

In Chapter 2, Encounters With Neanderthals, David Reich talks about his work in analyzing the first successfully sequenced Neanderthal genomes, and the discoveries that led to. Reich’s team, with Nick Patterson making an especially important contribution, found that Neanderthals were … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaic humans, Book Reviews, Neanderthals | 61 Comments

Guns, Germs, and Steel revisited

Posted on September 4, 2017 by gcochran9

Jared Diamond’s thesis, in Guns, Germs, and Steel, is that regional differences in civilizational achievement are entirely caused by biogeographical factors, while regional differences in ability have had no effect. It isn’t that he believes that there are no such … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, GGS | 220 Comments

Old T-Rex

Posted on March 20, 2017 by gcochran9

I’ve just finished Testosterone Rex, by Cordelia Fine. In this book, she argues against the existence of innate psychological differences between the sexes. She does not want her readers to believe that men and women have different natures – apparently … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Uncategorized | 234 Comments

Bad Teacher

Posted on May 17, 2016 by gcochran9

I just read “The Battle For Room 314”, Ed Boland’s account of a year teaching at a NYC high school. Boland had been an admissions officer, done fundraising for nonprofits – but wanted to DO GOOD, and of course go … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Education | Tagged | 149 Comments

Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes

Posted on April 7, 2014 by gcochran9

Svante Pääbo has a book out, Neanderthal Man, in which he recounts his adventures sequencing ancient DNA.  He has had three big successes: the first successful sequencing of Neanderthal mtDNA in 1997, the first sequencing of the Neanderthal nuclear genome, … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaic humans, Book Reviews, Denisovans, Genetics, Neanderthals | 118 Comments

The Son Also Rises

Posted on March 23, 2014 by gcochran9

Greg Clark has a new book out, The Son Also Rises. His thesis, in short, is that moxie has high heritability. Most studies show fairly high social mobility from one generation to the next – but Clark finds (using surname … Continue reading →

Posted in Ashkenazi Jews, assortative mating, Book Reviews, Education, Genetics | 80 Comments

Ancestral Journeys

Posted on December 2, 2013 by gcochran9

Jean Manco has a new book out on the peopling of Europe, Ancestral Journeys.  The general picture is that Europeans arise from three main groups: the Mesolithic hunters (Hyperboreans),  Levantine farmers, and Indo-Europeans off the steppe.   It’s a decent … Continue reading →

Posted in Amerindians, Book Reviews, European Prehistory, Genetics | 67 Comments