I haven't gotten very far, but I'm extremely curious about this book. The author's theory is that our genetic makeup can be traced back to just seven women; all described in the book. Can't wait to find out more!

A great way to start out investigating genetics.
Minimal science-speak.
Maximal story about what goes on in the lab and in the archeological dig and in the scientific confab.
It's a tough sell, but once you GET IT, that all Europeans go back to the same seven ladies and fourteen men, it's GREAT! (Yes, there were other folks around. These are just the lines that survived until today.)
Now what? Well, the world looks a lot more unified.

Very interesting science book considering that it was written in 2001. Fast paced book that is very easy to read even for non-science people, like myself. First half of the book I read pretty fast on my summer vacation, second half took some time. Perfect introduction into popular science books.

Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (transfered only motherside) reveals that we all come from 7 prehistoric women.
Pleasant, easy to read.

Every person of every ethnicity carries mit0chondrial DNA that can be traced back to seven women. In this way we are all related. Lots of interesting nuggets but the book drags a bit in the middle.

I found this book compelling, fascinating, an enjoyable read and an education in itself. What is wonderful about this book is that Bryan Sykes explains and teaches us about DNA and his own research and conclusions into mitochondria and the origins of humankind and it's ancestry through DNA research in way those of us without science degrees can understand.

It is a narrative of our common heritage and our shared forebears. The author explains to us in a way that is easy to understand what is DNA and what it is does. How we can trace common ancestry to people in other parts of the world, and his theory that all indigenous Europeans are descended from seven common female ancestors who he refers to as 'the seven daughters of Eve'

His research gives us much genuine food for though, he remarks how in centuries past , how many women who were made to suffer for not producing male heirs would have loved to know that the truth is only the male sperm cells that determine whether the child conceived will be a male or female. It is the Y chromosome that makes a child a male, without which the child will be a female.

He draws us to the interesting fact that one in every 20 000 female children have a Y chromosome, and these girls look normal and have normal intelligence, though the tend to be a little taller than average. but when they reach puberty their uterus and ovaries do not develop properly and they do not produce children.

Sykes uses mitochondrial DNA evidence from the remains of the Romanov Russian imperial family to cast serious doubt on the theory that when Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918, one or two of his daughters survived. According to Sykes DNA proves all of the Tsar's children were murdered.

He also proves that almost of Native Europeans are descended from Paleolithic hunter-gatherers who were in Europe 50 000 years ago and not as some theorists have told us from Neolithic farmers who migrated to Europe some 10 000 years ago, and diluted the European gene pool-they did not.

The last part of the books gives seven semi-fictional stories of the seven matriarchal ancestress of modern indigenous Europeans.
These were real people with almost identical DNA to their modern descendants but living in very different circumstances to them.
Ursula , Xenia , Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine and Jasmine.
I would also recommend the work by Rabbi Yaakov Kleinman 'Tradition and DNA' which traces the ancestry of modern day Jews to ancient Israel.

One of the earlier books that started the genetic genealogy revolution. Most of the book is an insider's look at the process of making scientific discoveries, getting funding, publishing, and dealing with critics. A process that, in this case, quite happily ended up at full acceptance. Mitochondrial DNA illuminates the maternal line and gives us strong evidence both for relatedness of different populations and human migration over tens of thousands of years.

The seven daughters of Eve are not sisters or even contemporaries. They are the names given to the seven women whose specific mtDNA mutations passed on to their daughters who went on to populate 95% of Europe. Deep Ancestry by Spencer Wells has a much better description of each mtDNA grouping (named by letters; the "daughters" were names that began with the standard letter) and gives them for the entire planet, not just for Europe.

So-called Mitochondrial Eve is the single woman who lived in Africa about 150 thousand years ago (some accounts say 200 thousand) who is the maternal ancestor of every human being alive today. As mutations developed in her descendants, and those descendents separated and moved around the globe, they split into different mtDNA groups (haplogroups). Of the 30+ global haplogroups, a mere seven moved into Europe (and didn't die out) and they represent the maternal lines of nearly every native European.

Skyes' book is well worth reading for anyone interested not just in what all these things mean but in how scientists come to these conclusions and how sure they are or aren't about each part. The first 2/3 of the book is about the process of discovery. The last 1/3 is a fanciful account of each of the seven daughters' lives, based on the time and place that they lived.

Don't let this be the only book you read about genetic genealogy. I found it excellent for filling in gaps and understanding some of the history of this amazing field.

This was a fascinating read on genetics. I didn’t know the Neanderthal went extinct. It reminded me a bit of Jared Diamonds work and human origins.

Interesting and thought-provoking read, but there were a few things that I found distracting. Early on, Sykes mentions some tension between himself and one of his co-workers. Later, he addresses events around this same person, who is involved in research and a paper that has devastating potential toward the research on mitochondrial DNA. Sykes' description of the events and final outcome come off as a "nyah nyah" thumbing of his nose at this person and ended up making me feel less sympathetic to him and his efforts--regardless of the truth or non-truth of his interpretation of the events. His handling of this could easily have been handled differently, to the benefit of the story he is presenting. The other distraction was the rather abrupt launch into the stories of the seven daughters' lives. I enjoyed his interpretations of their lives, but would have appreciated more of a lead-in of some sort to explain how he came up with these stories.

Now, complaints aside, I found this book to be thought-provoking on many levels. It reinforced for me the idea that each new 'discovery' opens so many more paths to be explored and that those lead to yet others perhaps not yet dreamt of. It also helped me put some science behind my own personal musings about similarities in appearance between people who are, ostensibly, not related--either genealogically or biologically--combinations of nose shapes, hair colors/textures, body builds. The book was easy to read (which I mention b/c I had feared that it would not be lay-person friendly) and, ultimately, I was glad that I finally took the plunge and read it.

I was going to give this 4 stars until I started his imaginatively reconstructed tales of the 7 matrilineal women who are the ancestors of almost all native Europeans. Two things were the most obvious concerning his vision of hunters and gatherers. The first is that the groups are clearly based on male dominance, with discussion at all of the importance of women kin groups. The second is his lack of awareness that women often were hunters as well as gatherers. One story in particular emphasized how one woman suffered without having a “husband”, instead of recognizing she could have hunted herself. Another seemed to consider that a young woman without a male partner would be looked down on for having a baby.

The first part of the book which discussed the whole concept of mitochondrial DNA was impressive and made the whole concept clearer to me than it had been. His summing up with discussions of the other mitochondrial lines on the other continents was very enlightening. I just wish he hadn’t spoiled it by his impossible stories.

This book really was amazing. It answered questions I had from other books (which continent did the Polynesians come from. When did the native Australians arrive). It answered questions I didn't even know enough about the subject to have before (What is the difference between a Paleolithic modern human and a Neanderthal). I learned a lot about genetics and how they can answer those questions. Plus, he's a great storyteller. It was fascinating to read the narratives he wrote about the lives of the Seven Eves.

I wasn't really hooked until Chapter 6, though I was interested enough to keep reading until there. But after that I didn't want to put it down.

I wanted to read this book ever since I read his book about the genes of Britain and Ireland, because he mentioned how his research about mitochondrial DNA led him to posit that everyone alive today is descended from one of seven women. This book is about that.

I wanted to like it more than I did! The chapters about how mDNA was used to identify where the Polynesians originated, and how far back modern Europeans actually originated, were interesting. And I THINK I understand how mDNA works - but I'm not sure I could explain it if I were called upon to do so, unless I went back and reread the book. There was one frustration in this book for me, and I think it frustrated a previous reader who had the book checked out sometime before me - because someone actually underlined a phrase in pencil with a sort of erratic stroke, and I could totally see why. As he's collating his mDNA samples from all over Europe and sorting them and figuring out how all the mutations line up, he says, "And, by purely logical deduction, the inescapable but breathtaking conclusion is that the single founder sequence at the root of each of the seven clusters was carried by just one woman in each case." 'purely logical deduction' is underlined. And I can see why. WHAT? That logical deduction process is WHAT I CAME TO SEE, not what I just wanted to have thrown out and left there. I think for the sake of the target audience of this book, the intelligent general reader, he should have gone into that. I am willing to buy it, but what I really wanted was to see it laid out.
Honestly, I skipped most of the seven chapters about the hypothetical lives of the seven women who are the foundation of the seven mDNA 'families' of native Europeans (the focus of the book; he does briefly go into the possibilities for the rest of the world). I read 'Clan of the Cave Bear' and didn't come to this book for fiction about prehistory, so I skimmed the beginning to see where they each originated and then flipped past. Personally I think those chapters were completely unnecessary.
Now I'm reading his book about the US through its DNA and can't wait to see him use science to further explode the myth of race. Because those seven women who were the ancestors of all Europe had an ancestor of their own and she came out of Africa.