I liked it but not as much as Daughters of Eve. I'm well aware of decreasing sperm counts & increasing male infertility around the globe, but his info on y-chromosome decay was new. We have a long long way to go before we have to worry about the extinction of men.

Groundbreaker work on genetics and genealogy for the paternal line via tracing the Y chromosome. Professor Sykes is a pioneer in the field but
we could do without his oddly feminist critique of the embattled Y chromosome. One gets the sense he is actually looking forward to the day when women can breed more women without needing men or their sperm!

A really interesting books with many aspects and ways of looking at reproduction methods in many species, gender selection, the "war" between male and female DNA and an interesting fact-based speculation on what may lay ahead for human survival in terms of DNA.
Sykes lays out the science of DNA investigation in an interesting and understandable way. He states what has been learned, what it means, what is still left unanswered. He then goes to investigate such things as families who have boy over girls for generations on end (and vice versa; those who have girls over boys for generations) and why, from a DNA aspect, this may happen because, naturally, having only one sex threatens future generations.
In the final third of the book, Sykes speculates on the future of human reproduction, taking into account some interesting aspects of mankind that affect reproduction into the future. Although speculations at this point, Sykes brings into the discussions as much of the proven and being-researched DNA & scientific evidence that is currently available to him and other scientists. Completely interesting, whether one sides with the speculations or not.
I've enjoyed both of the books by Bryan Sykes that I've read: this one and The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry.
He writes as if he's talking with the reader in an everyday discussion. He's entertaining, educational and not afraid to look beyond the known into the possibilities while realizing that the possibilities may change as more information becomes known and proven.

An incredibly interesting book on genetics! Sykes is an engaging writer and explains his ideas thoroughly, which is good as I didn't take any biological sciences during high school and only recently started looking into it. He doesn't really get onto the topic of men's inevitable extinction until the last couple of chapters, and everything before it, while very interesting, is basically a briefing on genetic history and his journey on developing this thesis statement. From what I can tell, he has agreeable ethical and political views, and is without a doubt exceptionally good at balancing science and entertainment, I just wish he'd have devoted at least a paragraph in the introduction to the reminder that his terminology is only in terms of genetics - a given for sure, and although he brings up the genetic discussion around homosexuality/males with XX & females with XY, and mentions transgender peoples, there is no mention of intersex peoples which itched me every time he said "the two sexes"/"female vs. male"/any general implication that sex is 'one or the other'. Besides that, he is still feminist friendly and very informative, even if a little waffle-y with some of his metaphors, and I am very eager to read his other book The Seven Daughters of Eve.

Aslında konusu ilgi çekici ve içerisinde öğrenilebilecek şeyler var ama bilimselliğinin yanında biraz da hikaye anlatıyor oluşunun beni yorduğunu söyleyebilirim. Elbette bu tarz "hikaye" kısımlarının bulunması bir yandan bir gereklilik olabilir ama asıl olayın çok arka planda kalmasına yol açtığı noktalar da olmuştu. Örneğin ben birden kendimi Atlantik kıyısındaki bazı yerlere yerleşen klanların tarihinin içerisinde buldum, ölçüyü kaçırmadığı bir durumda bunu okumak da eğlenceli olurdu ama ben bunları okurken asıl konunun ne olduğunun bilincinden çıktığımı söyleyebilirim. Bunun dışında pek bir şikayetim yok gibi kitaba dair.

يقول أينشتاين: “إذا لم تستطع شرح فكرتك لطفل عمره 6 أعوام فأنت نفسك لم تفهمها بعد!”
فأي أحمق يستطيع أن يجعل الأمور تبدو أكبر وأكثر تعقيداً، لكنها تحتاج للمسة من عبقري لتبدو أبسط!

الكاتب براين سايكس قد طبق كلمات أينشتاين
فقد استطاع شرح وتوصيل المعلومات بأسلوب سهل وبسيط ويمكن لاي شخص قراءة الكتاب وفهمه
وخصوصا أن علم الانثروبولوجيا وعلم الوراثة من بين العلوم التي تعتبر معقدة ويجب ان يكون لك بعض المعارف والمعلومات عن المجال لكي تفهمها
هنا في هذا الكتاب لا أظن أن أي شخص سيجد صعوبة في فهمه

الكاتب حاول توضيح مصير الصبغي الذكري
Y
وكيف انه خلق نوع من الصراع والتنافس فيما بين الذكور من أجل توريثه للأجيال القادمة وخصوصا للابناء الذكور لكي يستمر تناقله عبر الأجيال
وفي المقابل تحدث قليلا على الحمض النووي الخاص بالميتوكندري
وكيف أنه ينتقل عبر الاناث لأبنائهم
ويتم توريثه على التوالي من طرف الاناث
تحدث عن مشكل او ظاهرة وجود الإناث في بعض العائلات او وجود الذكور فقط
وحاول شرح المسألة علميا
أوضح أن الجنس الذكري في طور الانقراض بسبب الطفرات التي تصيب الصبغي الذكري مما يؤدي إلى خلل في إنتاج الحيوانات المنوية وبالتالي وجود مشاكل في إخصاب والحصول على الذرية
ورغم تقنيات الحديثة فإن الابناء الذين سيرثون هذا الصبغي العليل سيؤدي بهم إلى إنجاب ذرية عليلة او إلى العقم
وبالتالي إلى الانقراض
في الأخير طرح فكرة أن البشر او بالاحرى الإناث سيستغنين عن الذكور وسيتم انجاب الابناء عن طريق التحام بويضات(نظرية علمية تم تطبيقها على فئران وتم انجاب فأر عن طريق استعمال بويضتين من فئران إناث دون الحاجة إلى ذكر)
وبالتالي انجاب الاناث فقط
وتحدث ايضا عن استعمال الهندسة الوراثية ونقل كل المورثات المسؤولة عن الذكورة إلى الصبغيات الأخرى وبالتالي يتم الحفاظ عليها ونقلها للاجيال القادمة وعدم انقراض الذكور
وهذه التقنية هي مجرد نظرية

في رايي الكاتب طرح امور مهمة جدا واوضح بعض المفاهيم المغلوطة
والكتاب يستحق القراءة

This book is an excellent introduction by the brilliant geneticist Bryan Sykes. He writes clearly and well. He describes scientific issues in clear language that allow the reader to understand how the development of traits of organisms are formed either through natural selection or selective breeding. By careful analysis of data, many evolutionary ideas are explored. The author explains that the data even demonstrate that males are almost unneeded. Several species have moved beyond sex and reproduce in other ways. It is frightening to accept this reality as an individual looks at her (or especially his) point of view.

It is wonderful for a reader to expand his or her mind to understand the world that Professor Sykes has researched. This book will lead readers to pursue other topics written of by Bryan Sykes.

Utterly fascinating facts.
For example about sperm motility related to the clan mother.

4.5
Na pewno będzie w moim top 5 książek przeczytanych w tym roku

من الكتب اللي الواحد بيحس انها بتكون عارفه انت نفسك ف ايه ... الكتب اللي بتاخد الريت ده بتكون بجد ثورية ف الافكار والاجمل انها بتكون كاتبه اللي نفسي لاقيه ... كتاب رائع ... اسلوب سلس مشوق ... حاجة عظيمة

Un libro muy interesante que empieza con una breve historia sobre el desarrollo de la genética y que poco a poco se abre paso a la explicación de porque el hombre esta destinado a extinguirse tarde o temprano.

Sykes is a geneticist who's made his career studying the sex chromosomes. He explains the evolutionary origins of having two different sexes - there are some species - even as advanced as lizards - that reproduce by cloning and have only females. He explains the origins of the Y chromosome itself and the evolutionary pressures that are causing it to slowly degenerate. Overall, the book is fairly loose with its speculation; but taken as speculation it presents an interesting set of ideas about all of the aspects of out lives and those of our ancestors that have been influenced by the specific molecular mechanisms of sexual reproduction used by humans.