Audiobook12 hours
Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men
Written by Bryan Sykes
Narrated by Christopher Kay
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
By the nationally best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, Adam's Curse investigates the ultimate evolutionary crisis: a man-free future. How is it possible that the Y chromosome, which separated the sexes and allowed humans to rise to the apex of the animal kingdom, also threatens to destroy sexual reproduction altogether? Bryan Sykes confronts recent advances in evolutionary theory to find the answers to the questions that inexorably follow: Is there a genetic cause for men's greed, aggression, and promiscuity? Could a male homosexual gene possibly exist? A must read for anyone interested in popular science, family genealogy, and today's infertility crisis, Adam's Curse provokes a shocking debate on the nature of sexual reproduction
More audiobooks from Bryan Sykes
The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Once a Wolf: The Science Behind Our Dogs' Astonishing Genetic Evolution Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Adam's Curse
Related audiobooks
Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Different: Gender and Our Primate Heritage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mismeasure of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say About Human Difference Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack: And Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Purpose and Desire: What Makes Something "Alive" and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World's Most Famous Human Fossils Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries: The Evidence and the People Who Found It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Science & Mathematics For You
Thinking in Systems: A Primer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gene: An Intimate History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Adam's Curse
Rating: 3.9155843454545454 out of 5 stars
4/5
77 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating look at male genetics. It raises as many questions as it answers and was good reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Having read Sykes "Seven Daughters...." first, I found this book just as easy to understand, but not quite as engrossing. Maybe because I'm female?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sykes has done it again with this follow-up of his "Seven Daughters of Eve." "Adam's Curse" is a terrific survey of the latest findings on human genetics as told through the Y chromosome, inherited exclusively through one's father. There are plenty of new ideas here, coupled with a rather informative short course on the twentieth century's additions to Darwin's theory of evolution.This is not a dry recitation of the facts, by any means. It contains his personal story of unraveling some of these puzzles himself, told in an a lively and amusing manner, sure to hold the reader's interest. There are history lessons, such as the one about the lamentable foul-ups of the microscopists trying to count the chromosomes. And Sykes tale of observing his own Y chromosome, carrying out the manipulations with his own hands, is described in some detail. There are stories about his coworkers, including the giant William Hamilton, who probably is second only to Darwin in developing the theory of evolution. But mostly it is the story of the application of modern genetics to the varied populations of the world, the story of their migrations and conquests, and the struggle of the Y chromosome to survive.Sykes' distinct approach is to apply some relatively simple molecular probes to Y chromosomes obtained from many individuals in a variety of populations on a fairly big scale, rather than the other important task, carried on by a myriad of scientists, of trying to understand all the biological minutiae of a single prototypical human.His finding the Y chromosome inherited today by about 500,000 descendants of the founder of the MacDonald, MacDougalls and the MacAlisters Clans is quite fun to read, and the similar tale of his discovering the Sykes clan reveals something about how curiosity driven science can be so deeply satisfying. The stories of the Vikings, the Polynesians, the Great Khan, and conquest by the Spaniards in South America are all covered here and the new insights revealed by their Y chromosomes gives a tantalizing glimpse of those still to come from other parts of the world. I can't wait.Probably most unusual for a book of this sort, is that Sykes, a distinguished scientist, lays on some pretty far out, half-baked, probably wrong, but testable ideas about such things as the origin of homosexuality, the war between the sexes from the perspective of the Y and mitochondrial chromosomes, and even the possible future course of the evolution of the Y to its ultimate demise. This is a refreshing contrast to the plodding certainties of the refereed publications of the academics, hedged about with all the required caveats and cautions. In spite of his sometimes over-anthropomorphized chromosomes, this is an entertaining read, rewarding to readers yearning to understand the human beast.