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The Seven Daughters of Eve

bryan sykes

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In 1994 Professor Bryan Sykes, a leading world authority on DNA and human evolution, was called in to examine the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in northern Italy. News of the discovery of the Ice Man and his age, which was put at over five thousand years old, fascinated the world. But what made the story particularly extraordinary was that Professor Sykes was also able to track down a living genetic relative of the Ice Man, a woman living in Britain today.
How was he able to locate a living relative of a man who died thousands of years ago? In The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes gives us a first hand account of his research into a remarkable gene which passes undiluted from generation to generation through the maternal line and shows how it is being used to track our genetic ancestors through time and space. After plotting thousands of DNA sequences from all over the world he found that they had clustered around a handful of distinct groups. In Europe there are only seven. The conclusion: almost everyone of native European descent, wherever they live in the world, can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, the Seven Daughters of Eve. He has named them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine and Jasmine.
In this remarkable scientific adventure story we learn exactly how our origins can be traced, how and where our ancient genetic ancestors lived, what their lives were like and how we are each living proof of the almost miraculous strength of our DNA which has survived and prospered over so many thousands of years to reach us today. It is a book that not only presents the story of our evolution in a wholly new light, but also strikes right at the heart of ourselves as individuals and of our sense of identity.

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2001
Literary awards
prismas casa de las ciencias a la divulgación, 

This edition

Format
368 pages, Paperback
Published
July 1, 2002 by Corgi Books
ISBN
9780552152181
ASIN
0552152188
Language
English

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bryan sykes

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
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99 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
_DogWater
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book is interesting but definitely has two halves.
Chapters 1-13 are a fascinating look at the history of genetics and Bryan's groundbreaking work on using mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) to trace genetic history. The book focuses on the 7 women who are the ancestral mothers of the majority of Europeans.
Chapters 14-22 are his imagining of each woman's life. I found it a little jarring given how factual the rest of the book is.
The last few chapters briefly discuss the rest of the world.

On the whole I would recommend it.

I was disappointed that he credited Watson and Crick with the discovery of the 3D model of DNA using x-rays, but does not mention Rosalind Franklin who actually took those x-rays.
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Raffie83
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Big fat meh. I didn't find it particularly well-written or engrossing and I really didn't enjoy the fictional bits. I know Sykes was trying to make the 7 daughters of Eve more real, easier to relate to, but I found it trite and a little nauseating. I've read other books on genetics and found them much more interesting and informative, for some reason this one just slid off my face. The only thing I found truly interesting was the mention of race at the end (literally 5 pages before the end!) and I do wish there had been much more about the concept of race and the role the mitochondrial DNA and genetics in general could have in order to dispel this myth of race as skin colour/ethnicity/anything easily identifiable. The implications of that are much more interesting in my opinion than these ancestors of ours coming out of the woodwork and feeling a sense of identity with some woman from 30,000 years ago. My apologies, I just don't feel it. I appreciate Sykes' passion for his work and science but I didn't enjoy his writing much.
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ikutokun90
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The first half of this book gives an excellent and detailed description of Bryan Sykes’ thrilling investigative journey whereby he uncovers findings and develops his theory regarding mitochondrial DNA, DNA that is passed down from mother to child that, according to Sykes, can give us a record back through our mothers due to measurable degrees of mutation.

While reading this book, keep in mind that, according to the author himself, the fictitious representations of the "Seven Daughters of Eve" are just that, fictitious. Sykes is not saying that DNA can tell us anything nearly so detailed as the daily life of an individual who lived thousands of years ago. Bill Bryson, in his book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" appeared to be under an opposite impression that belied his ever having read Sykes’ work. In fact, if you so desire, you may simply ignore the second half of this book as unnecessary filler, an act I wish I had done myself. Had the book lacked this superfluous section, I would have given it four stars instead of three.
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Koumazoku
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Uses genetic (DNA) markers to help trace just 7 of maybe 40 branches of the first Mitochondrial Eve. Very interesting.
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ed3800
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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الكتاب الثاني لبراين سايكس ودائما ما يبهرني باسلوبه وطرحه لموضوع علمي بشكل أدبي وروائي
من أفضل ما قرأت
أنصح جدا بقراءته
n  n
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nouie
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A captivating exploration of human genetics and our ancient ancestry.

Sykes, a renowned geneticist, takes readers on a journey through time and DNA to uncover the fascinating story of our origins.

The book introduces readers to the concept of mitochondrial DNA, passed exclusively from mothers to their offspring, and how it can be used to trace the maternal lineage of modern humans.

Sykes identifies seven distinct mitochondrial DNA lineages, which can be traced back thousands of years to seven women who lived in different parts of the world.

Sykes masterfully combines scientific research with a sense of discovery and adventure, making complex genetic concepts accessible to the general reader.

A nice read for those who find this kind of science interesting
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Wszechmistrzyni
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Written in simple language for non-geneticists and a beautiful wrapping up of the theme at the end with a hypothesized lives of our maternal ancestors. I loved this book and how much I learned so much more than I thought I would. Highly recommend to anyone remotely interested in: ancestry, genetics, and what links us humans all together.
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Maho_Stitch
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Through mitochondrial genetics, Dr Bryan Sykes was able to retrace the migrations of Polynesian settlers, rewrite European prehistory, and even solve the mystery of Tsar Nicholas II. His most notable achievement, however, is his identification of seven individual women from prehistory who, when combined, birthed the ancestors of every single human being now living on planet earth. He christened them The Seven Daughters of Eve.

For the sake of simplicity, Dr. Sykes has given each of these Seven Daughters (also called “clan mothers”) modern names: Jasmine, Katrine, Tara, Velda, Helena, Xenia, and Ursula. Personally, I would have gone with a much different set of monikers—maybe Aretha, Carmen, Adele, Frida, Rosa, Zora, and Beyoncé—but I digress.

As an added bit of interest and interaction, those who know their maternal haplogroup (mine is U5a1b) can discover which clan mother they’re most directly descended from. I am team Ursula (aka Beyoncé).

Where Dr Sykes loses me comes about 200 pages in when he decides to give all the clan mothers elaborate, completely made-up back stories—what he calls “imagined lives.” For example, one accidentally invents the canoe and another domesticates a wolf. This, for me, is where The Seven Daughters of Eve shifts from intriguing science to oddly unnecessary historical fiction. It’s a literary experiment that falls flat.

But don’t let this deter you from reading this book. The fascinating first parts are well worth the discomforting and confusing last bits. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
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