Neanderthal Man by Svante Paabo - Book Review

Decoding the genomes of our extinct relatives!,

With the completion of the full human genome sequence in 2003 and the rapid fall in DNA sequencing costs over the subsequent 10 years, we have been awaiting major advancements in many fields such as Healthcare, Agriculture, Drug Discovery and so on. However, the progress has been slow and the deluge of genome sequence data has been a tough problem to handle.

But, Svante Paabo in this fascinating book on the 'Neanderthal Man' shows how the new technologies have enabled him to sequence the genomes of our extinct relatives - the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. The data proves how our ancestors moved out of Africa about 50,000 years back and interbred to a small extent (2 to 7% of our genes come from them) with the Neanderthals and Denisovans and maybe drove them to extinction. Many interesting facts come out of these studies such as, (a) that gene flow seems to have been from the Neanderthals to us (and not the other way), (b) the founding population of the Neanderthals also seems to have pretty small like in the case of the humans (c) we split from the Neanderthals about 500,000 years back (d) the Denisovans split about 1 million years back (e) the Denisovans seem to be closer to the Neanderthals than to humans, and much more...

The book is not only fun to read, but Paabo detective mode of story telling will also keep the reader focused. By mixing his personal stories with scientific research, Paabo provides a refreshing frankness to the narrative. We get a direct view of the challenges in scientific research and how the role of institutional support and adequate funding can make research a success. Paabo's journey from Egyptian mummies to Mammoths, to Sloths and finally the Neanderthals and Denisovans is a great inspiration to all students of science. He shows how passion, perseverance, attention to detail, and collaboration can deliver results not only in Science but in all aspects of life.

Paabo explains the Science very clearly and the narrative shows us how he has become the world's expert in 'ancient DNA'. But in order to do that he often has to go into intricate details of lab work which some readers might find difficult to follow. Still it will not affect the story and if you are interested to learn how we became what we are, this is a book that you should not miss.