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لعنة آدم: العلم الذي يكشف عن مصيرنا الوراثي
بريان سايكس مؤلف هذا الكتاب، أستاذ للوراثة في جامعة أكسفورد، وقد حفزه للبدء بتأليف هذا الكتاب، أنه دعي مؤخراً إلى مؤتمر طبي كان الداعي إليه رجل أعمال يرأس شرطة أدوية واسمه أيضاً سايكس. سأل الكثيرون سايكس العالم عما إذا كان على صلة قرابة بسايكس رجل الأعمال استفزته كثرة الأسئلة فأخذ يجري أبحاثاً لإثبات أو نفي وجود صلة قرابة بينه وبين رجل الأعمال. استخدم في أبحاثه هذه كروموسوم واي الذكوري. ينتقل هذا الكروموسوم من الأب وحده للابن الذكر وليس من الأب والأم معاً، كما في الكروموسومات الأخرى بنواة الخلية. دراسة تركيب الكروموسوم واي تمكّن من معرفة تسلسل النسب الأبوي وتمييز هوية الأقارب المنتمين لجدّ أو سلف واحد. يتناول هذا الكتاب أسئلة كثيرة تدور حول ذكورة الرجال وكروموسوم واي المسبب لها، ويعرض كل هذا بأسلوب واضح رشيق موجّه أساساً لغير المختصين
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364 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
68 people are currently reading
1828 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Sykes
12 books217 followersBryan Clifford Sykes was a renowned British geneticist and science writer who served as a Fellow of Wolfson College and Emeritus Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford. He was a pioneering researcher in the field of ancient DNA and was among the first to retrieve DNA from ancient human remains, with his landmark 1989 study published in Nature. He played a significant role in high-profile cases, including the analysis of DNA from Ötzi the Iceman.
Sykes gained widespread recognition for his popular science books, especially The Seven Daughters of Eve (2001), in which he explained how mitochondrial DNA could trace maternal ancestry back to prehistoric women, whom he described as "clan mothers". In Blood of the Isles (2006), he explored the genetic roots of the British and Irish people, arguing that modern populations largely descended from early Mesolithic and Neolithic settlers, with limited genetic input from later groups like the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings.
He was also known for investigating cryptozoological mysteries, including the alleged Yeti, suggesting some samples might belong to a rare bear hybrid, though later studies contested his findings.
Educated at Eltham College, the University of Liverpool, Bristol, and Oxford, Sykes authored numerous scientific papers. He died in December 2020, leaving a lasting impact on genetic genealogy and public understanding of human ancestry.
Sykes gained widespread recognition for his popular science books, especially The Seven Daughters of Eve (2001), in which he explained how mitochondrial DNA could trace maternal ancestry back to prehistoric women, whom he described as "clan mothers". In Blood of the Isles (2006), he explored the genetic roots of the British and Irish people, arguing that modern populations largely descended from early Mesolithic and Neolithic settlers, with limited genetic input from later groups like the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings.
He was also known for investigating cryptozoological mysteries, including the alleged Yeti, suggesting some samples might belong to a rare bear hybrid, though later studies contested his findings.
Educated at Eltham College, the University of Liverpool, Bristol, and Oxford, Sykes authored numerous scientific papers. He died in December 2020, leaving a lasting impact on genetic genealogy and public understanding of human ancestry.
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December 1, 2023
First published in 2003, Adam’s Curse is very much a companion piece to Sykes’ earlier book The Seven Daughters of Eve (2001). Where the first publication focuses on mitochondrial DNA, a circular chromosome passed from mothers to daughters, this one centers around the Y chromosome, that biogenetic sex determinant passed from fathers to sons.
Selfish Genetics
“Our genes are not serving us at all. It is the other way around. We are serving them. Faceless, thoughtless and ruthless. This was even worse than straight Darwin for those people still looking for the hand of God in shaping the natural world. How could all this wonder have such a blind and mechanical foundation as the simple chemistry of DNA?”
If this sounds familiar it’s because Bryan Sykes is firmly in the camp of Richard Dawkins.
“This unsettling conclusion, deeply troubling to those who feel their fundamental beliefs have been shattered, has overshadowed all of biology for the past thirty years. There are those who disagree, certainly, but while the supremacy of the gene as the moving force in evolution has faced vigorous challenges from all quarters, it has not been overthrown.”
The So-Called “Gay Gene”
After much contemplation and self reflection I’ve decided I don’t want to risk an excursion through the minefield of public opinion by examining what Dr. Sykes wrote over twenty years ago. I’ll just say that the question of nature versus nurture when it comes to sexual orientation has, for the most part, been resolved. But in light of the fact that certain religious types still operate ‘conversion therapy’ programs—I’m looking at you James Dobson—it is worth reiterating that a human being can no more choose which sex they are attracted to than they can choose their height or their lactose tolerance. Most (not all) men with a specific segment of the X chromosome (Xq28) are predisposed to be gay. So what? Some people are gay, some people are left handed, others have red hair. None of these are “unnatural,” and certainly none of these are “abominations.”
Whoops. Here I am standing in the minefield. Allow me to egress.
The Curse of Adam
Because of decay and mutation in the Y chromosome, about one percent of each generation of males is 10% less fertile than the generation before. The average sperm count of males is falling at a noticeably significant rate. In fact, medical journals have already decreased the lower limit of an average sperm count from 60,000,000 to 20,000,000 per milliliter. If you do the math you’ll see that, if trends continue, men will eventually become extinct. Before we decide if this is necessarily a bad thing you should know that the rate of decline is excruciatingly slow. Fortunately, or unfortunately, something like climate change or a space meteor will have wiped us all out long before the last set of human testicles turns to dust.
Acid Flashbacks?
In both this book and The Seven Daughters of Eve Professor Sykes briefly departs from hard science into what I would describe as a ‘flight of fiction.’ In Seven Daughters it was his inventive biographies of all seven mitochondrial ancestors. Here in Adam’s Curse he quite inexplicably tangents into a history of human evolution from the perspective of Gaia the Earth Goddess. I don’t really have any explanation for these offshoots of imagination other than, possibly, the after effects of the 1960s.
Minus the star sacrificed on the alter of Gaia, this is a four star read.
Selfish Genetics
“Our genes are not serving us at all. It is the other way around. We are serving them. Faceless, thoughtless and ruthless. This was even worse than straight Darwin for those people still looking for the hand of God in shaping the natural world. How could all this wonder have such a blind and mechanical foundation as the simple chemistry of DNA?”
If this sounds familiar it’s because Bryan Sykes is firmly in the camp of Richard Dawkins.
“This unsettling conclusion, deeply troubling to those who feel their fundamental beliefs have been shattered, has overshadowed all of biology for the past thirty years. There are those who disagree, certainly, but while the supremacy of the gene as the moving force in evolution has faced vigorous challenges from all quarters, it has not been overthrown.”
The So-Called “Gay Gene”
After much contemplation and self reflection I’ve decided I don’t want to risk an excursion through the minefield of public opinion by examining what Dr. Sykes wrote over twenty years ago. I’ll just say that the question of nature versus nurture when it comes to sexual orientation has, for the most part, been resolved. But in light of the fact that certain religious types still operate ‘conversion therapy’ programs—I’m looking at you James Dobson—it is worth reiterating that a human being can no more choose which sex they are attracted to than they can choose their height or their lactose tolerance. Most (not all) men with a specific segment of the X chromosome (Xq28) are predisposed to be gay. So what? Some people are gay, some people are left handed, others have red hair. None of these are “unnatural,” and certainly none of these are “abominations.”
Whoops. Here I am standing in the minefield. Allow me to egress.
The Curse of Adam
Because of decay and mutation in the Y chromosome, about one percent of each generation of males is 10% less fertile than the generation before. The average sperm count of males is falling at a noticeably significant rate. In fact, medical journals have already decreased the lower limit of an average sperm count from 60,000,000 to 20,000,000 per milliliter. If you do the math you’ll see that, if trends continue, men will eventually become extinct. Before we decide if this is necessarily a bad thing you should know that the rate of decline is excruciatingly slow. Fortunately, or unfortunately, something like climate change or a space meteor will have wiped us all out long before the last set of human testicles turns to dust.
Acid Flashbacks?
In both this book and The Seven Daughters of Eve Professor Sykes briefly departs from hard science into what I would describe as a ‘flight of fiction.’ In Seven Daughters it was his inventive biographies of all seven mitochondrial ancestors. Here in Adam’s Curse he quite inexplicably tangents into a history of human evolution from the perspective of Gaia the Earth Goddess. I don’t really have any explanation for these offshoots of imagination other than, possibly, the after effects of the 1960s.
Minus the star sacrificed on the alter of Gaia, this is a four star read.
November 16, 2021
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
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
January 9, 2016
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.
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.
May 7, 2021
I really enjoyed this. There is a number of times where it gets bogged down in the technical stuff, but overall I found it an easily accessible and fascinating read. Recommended reading even if you have the barest of interests in genetics and human genealogy.
May 28, 2013
قرأت منذ سنوات كتاب "سبع بنات لحواء" لنفس المؤلف المتخصص فى علم الوراثة "بريان سايكس" والذى نشر فى مكتبة الاسرة فى عهد "سمير سرحان"
فى هذا الكتاب "سبع بنات لحواء" يعرض سايكس كيف امكن التوصل لحل العديد من الغاز التاريخ واصول الانسان عبر جينات الميتوكوندريا حيث ان جيناتها تورث فقط من خلال الام وبالتالى فهى تورث كما هى دون تغيير باستثناء الطفرات التى قد تحدث بها والتى وان حدثت فانه ايضا تكون هناك ثمة قرابة بل ويعكس معدل الطفرات زمن معيشة الام الاولى .......وفى النهاية توصل الى ارجاع اصل الاوروبيين الى سبع امهات
فى هذا الكتاب "لعنة ادم" يكرر "سايكس" نفس الفكرة ولكن على جينات اخرى تورث من الرجال فقط هذه المرة ..هى الجينات الموجودة على كروموسوم "واى" ويبدأ فى الكشف عن اصول بعض العائلات ومنهم عائلته نفسها ويحاول ان يقارن بين نتائجه التى توصل اليها مسبقا فى كتابه الاول عن جينات الميتوكوندريا المورثة من الام فقط بنتائجه فى كتابه الثانى عن جينات كروموسوم "واى" المورثة عبر الاب فقط ....ويتطرق الى مستقبل الذكور فى العالم ...وهل تفيد هذه التقنية فى تفسير ظواهر مثل غلبة الاناث او الذكور فى بعض العائلات ..وضعف الحيوانات المنوية لدى البعض ...والشذوذ الجنسى ...والاستنساخ
يندر ان تجد ترجمة عربية سلسة غير منفرة للمواد العلمية...المترجم للكتابين "مصطفى ابراهيم فهمى" احد القلائل جدا الذين يترجمون العلوم باحتراف دون فذلكة للمصطلحات ودون اى اشتقاقات غريبة وباضافة حواش مختصرة تصيب اهدافها
فى هذا الكتاب "سبع بنات لحواء" يعرض سايكس كيف امكن التوصل لحل العديد من الغاز التاريخ واصول الانسان عبر جينات الميتوكوندريا حيث ان جيناتها تورث فقط من خلال الام وبالتالى فهى تورث كما هى دون تغيير باستثناء الطفرات التى قد تحدث بها والتى وان حدثت فانه ايضا تكون هناك ثمة قرابة بل ويعكس معدل الطفرات زمن معيشة الام الاولى .......وفى النهاية توصل الى ارجاع اصل الاوروبيين الى سبع امهات
فى هذا الكتاب "لعنة ادم" يكرر "سايكس" نفس الفكرة ولكن على جينات اخرى تورث من الرجال فقط هذه المرة ..هى الجينات الموجودة على كروموسوم "واى" ويبدأ فى الكشف عن اصول بعض العائلات ومنهم عائلته نفسها ويحاول ان يقارن بين نتائجه التى توصل اليها مسبقا فى كتابه الاول عن جينات الميتوكوندريا المورثة من الام فقط بنتائجه فى كتابه الثانى عن جينات كروموسوم "واى" المورثة عبر الاب فقط ....ويتطرق الى مستقبل الذكور فى العالم ...وهل تفيد هذه التقنية فى تفسير ظواهر مثل غلبة الاناث او الذكور فى بعض العائلات ..وضعف الحيوانات المنوية لدى البعض ...والشذوذ الجنسى ...والاستنساخ
يندر ان تجد ترجمة عربية سلسة غير منفرة للمواد العلمية...المترجم للكتابين "مصطفى ابراهيم فهمى" احد القلائل جدا الذين يترجمون العلوم باحتراف دون فذلكة للمصطلحات ودون اى اشتقاقات غريبة وباضافة حواش مختصرة تصيب اهدافها
April 29, 2013
In Adam’s Curse, Bryan Sykes zooms in on the battle of the sexes to a microscopic level: it all comes down to the Y-chromosome which is passed from father to son, and the mitochondrial DNA which we inherit exclusively from our mothers. The first half of the book is absolutely fascinating and I enjoyed reading about the likely origins and the evolutionary advantages of sexual reproduction, how certain species gave up on sex, as well as the reproduction methods of the blue-headed wrasse, the bdelloid rotifers, the aphids and the sea turtles. Who knew that there is a sea worm species called Bonellia viridis where the tiny males live inside a female's womb? In the second half, however, the science becomes hazier and the writing more speculative. Somewhere between the adventurous genes of the Vikings and the musings of the earth goddess Gaia, Sykes lost a bit of his persuasive power. Still, this is an entertaining read, recommended to anyone who is interested in reproduction methods, evolutionary biology and the role of our genes.
November 13, 2016
The best explanation of cell replication and recombinant DNA that I have ever read. Also, a spectacular explanation of why there are two sexes. The only reason this is not a perfect book is because some of Sykes conclusions/predictions/extrapolations are silly. I will keep this as a permanent part of the Science section of my personal library.
October 5, 2014
مدهشة جدًا جدًا المعلومات في هذا الكتاب .
Read
July 27, 2011I actually wrote a book report for this. Here's a summary of it with some of my ideas about it.
Throughout the history of the world, every event has lead to the collective knowledge of humanity. Since the early tribes, knowledge has been regarded as something useful yet equally something to fear. For it is the fear of every person to discover things that will lead to leave that enclosed cave of thought. Everyone is feeling warm and cozy inside it and whatever the cost may be, they don’t want to come out to discover what is truly real. Some take advantage of this to enrich themselves. While a very small community is trying to get people out of their fantasy and make them face the facts. Dr. Brian Sykes is one of them. Although we differ in opinions, the purpose is the same. To discover what is real and prepare for it. Now, I shall lead you through one of his books. It is a book entitled: Adam’s Curse.
The story begins with a simple quest. Dr. Brian Sykes was to investigate whether the owner of Glaxo Wellcome. Mr. Richard Sykes was related to him or not. He takes his blood sample and finds out that both their Y-Chromosomes (Y-C’s) match perfectly. But why? Enthralled to learn more about this matter, he begins searching for the past history of the Sykes family tree and finds detailed information about how names came to be in England. With the help of a friend, he then finds the place where the original Mr. Sykes lived. His name was Henri del Sike. His house had been constructed between two sykes.
Nowadays everyone knows the basics of Y for men and X for woman. But back in the day. Scientists took a long journey to discover what made a man a man and a woman a woman. First, there was an experiment with fruit flies. I will not go into details but the whole experiment ended with the wrong assumption that what determined sex on the flies, also determined sex on humans. After many other errors, a Chinese student discovering how to put chromosomes in order, Murray Barr discovering the Barr body and many notices of more chromosomes than there should be in humans. Pat Jacobs and John Strong made the final contribution and it was finally stated that if you have a Y-C you are male. If you don’t, you’re a female. To tip that, within the Y-C there is a “master switch”. Which is the one that detours the body of a female, to take the road of a man. That switch is a gene called SRY.
On the natural world there are many species that have quite a different approach to sex than humans do. But the idea is all the same. Men are there for their sperm and in some cases protection of the females. Also on many reptiles the way of determining sex is decided while they are still inside the egg. Basically if the temperature is cold a male will be born. If it is hot, a female will be born. But the animal I see as most fascinating is the honey bee, which has an extremely matriarchal society. There are about twenty males only producing sperm. The queen controls the sex of the egg. Thus the colony is basically females. In sexual or asexual reproduction, there is one truth. Asexual reproduction will have the advantage of speed but the disadvantage of no genetic variation. Sexual reproduction will have the disadvantage of being slow but the advantage of much genetic variation. This means that if a virus finds out how to kill one asexual organism, it can wipe out the complete species. However, in a sexual organism the virus would just kill a small part of the population.
The view of evolution has changed much since Darwin. The original natural selection (survival of the fittest) has been supplanted by group selection (survival of the group) and then afterwards a great man called William Hamilton changed completely the view of selection to that of survival of the genes, concluding that the point of sex as a whole is to pass on the genes. To complement this idea there is a whole explanation of how it could have been that the structure of the cell formed by the nucleus imprisoning the mitochondria in the beginning of the planet. Dr. Bryan Sykes starts playing with words and makes the reader start thinking of the nucleus as “evil” because it supposedly enslaved the mitochondria. If the mitochondria is there, it is because it got into contact with everything around it and fit perfectly with it. There is not any want in these things; there is no desire or possession of anything because there is no conscience. Our own conscience is the one that makes us start personalizing things without personality and makes our point of view err. Supposedly, to evade war within the cell the nucleus divided the cell into two sexes to prolong its own survival. Within men the Y-C is passed on to their sons and within woman the mtDNA is passed on to their daughters. Supposedly the Y-C wants this to keep on going and thus rule above all else but the mtDNA wants this to stop because it does not gain anything from it. Apparently even though this is going on, females seem to have fun with men. Through the concept called sexual selection. It is seen quite well in all species. It works like this: Both sexes wish to reproduce. A man will reproduce with the first female that steps in front of him. However, females are very picky with this and will only want to reproduce with the male that impresses her. The most popular example is that of the peacock where the male who has the most beautiful fail will spread it, do a little dance and hopefully if everything goes well. He will be able to spread his seed. There is another side to this. The constant demand for a more beautiful and bigger tail in males will lead to the species’ males to evolve bigger tails, until they are so big that the male will not be able to stand or will be too slow to run away from predators. Something similar happens with elephant seals. The demand for bigger males is so big that they end up stepping on their own offspring. This is the result of letting sexual selection take control of evolution.
While analyzing mtDNA Dr. Sykes had discovered that all Europeans came from 7 “clan” mothers. They have been the ones that have survived for thousands of years through mtDNA. The oldest clan mother is called “eve” with about 140,000 years of age. However, when analyzing male Y-C he found out that the oldest genetic ancestor was about 49,000 years ago. After this there is a series of experiments done by Dr. Sykes himself. He first discovers that a small percentage of rarotonga men in the pacific islands had a European ancestor. Then the desperate attempt of the Vikings to pass on their Y-C. Afterwards, it is discovered that the Y-C of Somerled, a great Irish warrior of the days of yore, was able to create half a million copies of itself in just 900 years. Which is a huge achievement for a Y-C. But why? Perhaps because of the wealth Somerled left his descendants. The same thing happened with Genghis Khan. The influence his family had on Y-C’s is deduced today to 16 million copies. So, if a man has much wealth then there is a high chance his Y-C will be passed on with more frequency. Thus, property is the key to immortality, at least on the genetic level. In the figure shown in the book of Y-C frequency there were remnants of other Y-C’s but there had lost their battles and perished because of their weakness.
What else is a factor in Y-C survival? What if the Y-C somehow discovered a way to shift the balance and have more chance of his offspring getting to be a male than a female? Or what if the mtDNA found another way to do the opposite? Apparently there are families with a tendency to have more males than females and vice-versa. However in men the probabilities of having more men than females is raised by the quantity of testosterone. Thus just demonstrates that there is a war going on between Y-C and mitochondria (mt).
Before this got so clear, humanity was basically moving with nature until we acquired the concept of property. This changed everything and unlocked Adam’s curse. Property now was a tool the Y-C had to battle his proclaimed “enemy” the mt. This was a double edged sword so to speak, it brought many problems to humans. Thanks to this we are destroying our own planet and ourselves in the process. Property triggered a train that today is going too fast to stop and may eventually kill us all. Men are the pilots of this train sure, but they are not entirely at fault. Men did all this on the account that woman will like it with the purpose of mating they will do whatever it is asked from them. Where eve goes, Adam is bound to follow.
Females have also the ability to fight back against males. It is shown in some insects and there has been one family in humans that had 78 daughters and not one son. Apparently some mt have the ability to influence the fertility of their sons. It is speculated that perhaps a homosexual son, is a way to benefit the female’s daughters.
After this point there is mainly much speculation. I criticize the fact that he attempts to make the reader see the Y-C as “evil”, undesirable and useless. It is the Y-C who dropped the end of WWII and if one quotes history there are innumerable events that prove that men have caused much suffering to the planet and to itself. But it is exactly this that has gotten to us where we are now. For if we didn’t have this greed and ambition we would probably be just another species in a planet without intelligence. Life is about trial and error and through our existence in this planet humans have had to make ALL the errors so we might properly learn. Thus, we are how we are today, we still make errors yet we don’t err so often. True, 80% of females in third world countries have had the clitoris’ cut at birth and I can add countless deeds of this kind to our black book. But most men won’t kill a man for the same petty reasons we would have done so 2000 years ago. There is still a high percentage of murder in the world but I can confidently say we have gotten better at organizing ourselves. There is still hope in men.
The Y-C will disappear in 125,000 years. Until then men can repent for what they did to woman, to gaia and to themselves. Do men deserve a second chance? That is not for me to decide, that is for the people living in that era to choose. I, however can just give my opinion and through actions persuade people to change. So instead of men ruling a society of destruction. Both male and woman can rule a society of peace.
Throughout the history of the world, every event has lead to the collective knowledge of humanity. Since the early tribes, knowledge has been regarded as something useful yet equally something to fear. For it is the fear of every person to discover things that will lead to leave that enclosed cave of thought. Everyone is feeling warm and cozy inside it and whatever the cost may be, they don’t want to come out to discover what is truly real. Some take advantage of this to enrich themselves. While a very small community is trying to get people out of their fantasy and make them face the facts. Dr. Brian Sykes is one of them. Although we differ in opinions, the purpose is the same. To discover what is real and prepare for it. Now, I shall lead you through one of his books. It is a book entitled: Adam’s Curse.
The story begins with a simple quest. Dr. Brian Sykes was to investigate whether the owner of Glaxo Wellcome. Mr. Richard Sykes was related to him or not. He takes his blood sample and finds out that both their Y-Chromosomes (Y-C’s) match perfectly. But why? Enthralled to learn more about this matter, he begins searching for the past history of the Sykes family tree and finds detailed information about how names came to be in England. With the help of a friend, he then finds the place where the original Mr. Sykes lived. His name was Henri del Sike. His house had been constructed between two sykes.
Nowadays everyone knows the basics of Y for men and X for woman. But back in the day. Scientists took a long journey to discover what made a man a man and a woman a woman. First, there was an experiment with fruit flies. I will not go into details but the whole experiment ended with the wrong assumption that what determined sex on the flies, also determined sex on humans. After many other errors, a Chinese student discovering how to put chromosomes in order, Murray Barr discovering the Barr body and many notices of more chromosomes than there should be in humans. Pat Jacobs and John Strong made the final contribution and it was finally stated that if you have a Y-C you are male. If you don’t, you’re a female. To tip that, within the Y-C there is a “master switch”. Which is the one that detours the body of a female, to take the road of a man. That switch is a gene called SRY.
On the natural world there are many species that have quite a different approach to sex than humans do. But the idea is all the same. Men are there for their sperm and in some cases protection of the females. Also on many reptiles the way of determining sex is decided while they are still inside the egg. Basically if the temperature is cold a male will be born. If it is hot, a female will be born. But the animal I see as most fascinating is the honey bee, which has an extremely matriarchal society. There are about twenty males only producing sperm. The queen controls the sex of the egg. Thus the colony is basically females. In sexual or asexual reproduction, there is one truth. Asexual reproduction will have the advantage of speed but the disadvantage of no genetic variation. Sexual reproduction will have the disadvantage of being slow but the advantage of much genetic variation. This means that if a virus finds out how to kill one asexual organism, it can wipe out the complete species. However, in a sexual organism the virus would just kill a small part of the population.
The view of evolution has changed much since Darwin. The original natural selection (survival of the fittest) has been supplanted by group selection (survival of the group) and then afterwards a great man called William Hamilton changed completely the view of selection to that of survival of the genes, concluding that the point of sex as a whole is to pass on the genes. To complement this idea there is a whole explanation of how it could have been that the structure of the cell formed by the nucleus imprisoning the mitochondria in the beginning of the planet. Dr. Bryan Sykes starts playing with words and makes the reader start thinking of the nucleus as “evil” because it supposedly enslaved the mitochondria. If the mitochondria is there, it is because it got into contact with everything around it and fit perfectly with it. There is not any want in these things; there is no desire or possession of anything because there is no conscience. Our own conscience is the one that makes us start personalizing things without personality and makes our point of view err. Supposedly, to evade war within the cell the nucleus divided the cell into two sexes to prolong its own survival. Within men the Y-C is passed on to their sons and within woman the mtDNA is passed on to their daughters. Supposedly the Y-C wants this to keep on going and thus rule above all else but the mtDNA wants this to stop because it does not gain anything from it. Apparently even though this is going on, females seem to have fun with men. Through the concept called sexual selection. It is seen quite well in all species. It works like this: Both sexes wish to reproduce. A man will reproduce with the first female that steps in front of him. However, females are very picky with this and will only want to reproduce with the male that impresses her. The most popular example is that of the peacock where the male who has the most beautiful fail will spread it, do a little dance and hopefully if everything goes well. He will be able to spread his seed. There is another side to this. The constant demand for a more beautiful and bigger tail in males will lead to the species’ males to evolve bigger tails, until they are so big that the male will not be able to stand or will be too slow to run away from predators. Something similar happens with elephant seals. The demand for bigger males is so big that they end up stepping on their own offspring. This is the result of letting sexual selection take control of evolution.
While analyzing mtDNA Dr. Sykes had discovered that all Europeans came from 7 “clan” mothers. They have been the ones that have survived for thousands of years through mtDNA. The oldest clan mother is called “eve” with about 140,000 years of age. However, when analyzing male Y-C he found out that the oldest genetic ancestor was about 49,000 years ago. After this there is a series of experiments done by Dr. Sykes himself. He first discovers that a small percentage of rarotonga men in the pacific islands had a European ancestor. Then the desperate attempt of the Vikings to pass on their Y-C. Afterwards, it is discovered that the Y-C of Somerled, a great Irish warrior of the days of yore, was able to create half a million copies of itself in just 900 years. Which is a huge achievement for a Y-C. But why? Perhaps because of the wealth Somerled left his descendants. The same thing happened with Genghis Khan. The influence his family had on Y-C’s is deduced today to 16 million copies. So, if a man has much wealth then there is a high chance his Y-C will be passed on with more frequency. Thus, property is the key to immortality, at least on the genetic level. In the figure shown in the book of Y-C frequency there were remnants of other Y-C’s but there had lost their battles and perished because of their weakness.
What else is a factor in Y-C survival? What if the Y-C somehow discovered a way to shift the balance and have more chance of his offspring getting to be a male than a female? Or what if the mtDNA found another way to do the opposite? Apparently there are families with a tendency to have more males than females and vice-versa. However in men the probabilities of having more men than females is raised by the quantity of testosterone. Thus just demonstrates that there is a war going on between Y-C and mitochondria (mt).
Before this got so clear, humanity was basically moving with nature until we acquired the concept of property. This changed everything and unlocked Adam’s curse. Property now was a tool the Y-C had to battle his proclaimed “enemy” the mt. This was a double edged sword so to speak, it brought many problems to humans. Thanks to this we are destroying our own planet and ourselves in the process. Property triggered a train that today is going too fast to stop and may eventually kill us all. Men are the pilots of this train sure, but they are not entirely at fault. Men did all this on the account that woman will like it with the purpose of mating they will do whatever it is asked from them. Where eve goes, Adam is bound to follow.
Females have also the ability to fight back against males. It is shown in some insects and there has been one family in humans that had 78 daughters and not one son. Apparently some mt have the ability to influence the fertility of their sons. It is speculated that perhaps a homosexual son, is a way to benefit the female’s daughters.
After this point there is mainly much speculation. I criticize the fact that he attempts to make the reader see the Y-C as “evil”, undesirable and useless. It is the Y-C who dropped the end of WWII and if one quotes history there are innumerable events that prove that men have caused much suffering to the planet and to itself. But it is exactly this that has gotten to us where we are now. For if we didn’t have this greed and ambition we would probably be just another species in a planet without intelligence. Life is about trial and error and through our existence in this planet humans have had to make ALL the errors so we might properly learn. Thus, we are how we are today, we still make errors yet we don’t err so often. True, 80% of females in third world countries have had the clitoris’ cut at birth and I can add countless deeds of this kind to our black book. But most men won’t kill a man for the same petty reasons we would have done so 2000 years ago. There is still a high percentage of murder in the world but I can confidently say we have gotten better at organizing ourselves. There is still hope in men.
The Y-C will disappear in 125,000 years. Until then men can repent for what they did to woman, to gaia and to themselves. Do men deserve a second chance? That is not for me to decide, that is for the people living in that era to choose. I, however can just give my opinion and through actions persuade people to change. So instead of men ruling a society of destruction. Both male and woman can rule a society of peace.
March 30, 2022
Türkçeye 2017 yılında çevrilen kitabın orijinal ilk baskı tarihi 2003. Kitap, daha sonra okunmak üzere kütüphanemde duruyordu. Biraz gündemden uzaklaşmak için elime aldım, okumaya başladım ve daha ilk satırlarından itibaren kendimi müthiş bir "bilimsel dedektiflik" öyküsünün peşinden sürüklenir buldum.
Büyük boy, 238 sayfalık kitap, onu elimden bıraktığım her an beni çağırdı. Büyük bir keyifle okudum, bitirdim.
Genetik Profesörü Bryan Sykes, yakın zamanda, 2020 Aralık'ta vefat etti. Adem'in Laneti, çok ilginç çalışma ve iddialarla dolu iki kitabından biri. 2002 yılında yazdığı Havva'nın Yedi Kızı, mitokondriyal DNA'nın, Adem'in Laneti ise Y kromozomunun izini sürüyor.
Kitabın alt başlığı ve tanıtım yazısı, kitap hakkında yeterince bilgi veriyor. Bu konulara ilgi duyan okurun muhakkak okuması gereken kitap, asgari düzeyde biyoloji bilgisi gerektiriyor. Bunun ötesinde bir bilimsel donanıma sahip olmanız gerekmiyor.
Kitabı okumayı planlayan okura, kitapta anlatılan fikirleri daha iyi kavrayabilmek üzere, ilave araştırma yapmasını tavsiye ederim. İnternet bu tip bir araştırma için birbirinden ilginç web sayfası ve video ile dolu.
Bu kitabı okuduktan sonra Havva'nın Yedi Kızı'nı daha çok merak ediyorum. Okunma sırası onda..
Büyük boy, 238 sayfalık kitap, onu elimden bıraktığım her an beni çağırdı. Büyük bir keyifle okudum, bitirdim.
Genetik Profesörü Bryan Sykes, yakın zamanda, 2020 Aralık'ta vefat etti. Adem'in Laneti, çok ilginç çalışma ve iddialarla dolu iki kitabından biri. 2002 yılında yazdığı Havva'nın Yedi Kızı, mitokondriyal DNA'nın, Adem'in Laneti ise Y kromozomunun izini sürüyor.
Kitabın alt başlığı ve tanıtım yazısı, kitap hakkında yeterince bilgi veriyor. Bu konulara ilgi duyan okurun muhakkak okuması gereken kitap, asgari düzeyde biyoloji bilgisi gerektiriyor. Bunun ötesinde bir bilimsel donanıma sahip olmanız gerekmiyor.
Kitabı okumayı planlayan okura, kitapta anlatılan fikirleri daha iyi kavrayabilmek üzere, ilave araştırma yapmasını tavsiye ederim. İnternet bu tip bir araştırma için birbirinden ilginç web sayfası ve video ile dolu.
Bu kitabı okuduktan sonra Havva'nın Yedi Kızı'nı daha çok merak ediyorum. Okunma sırası onda..
September 9, 2019
Ufuk açıcı...
June 20, 2023
4.5
Na pewno będzie w moim top 5 książek przeczytanych w tym roku
Na pewno będzie w moim top 5 książek przeczytanych w tym roku
October 31, 2010
Most of the book is a very interesting discussion of genetic research focusing on the male Y chromosome. In the later part of the book the author explores his controversial thesis that males are ultimately doomed because of the inability of the Y chromosome to repair itself through recombination. This may or may not be correct, but one gets the distinct impression that the author is hoping that it is true and that the far future will be a women only utopia, with female babies produced through egg to egg ICSI genetic implantation.
April 23, 2018
كتاب رائع جداً للمهتمين بعلم الوراثة و الجينات. يعرفك الكتاب على كيفية عمل فحص الجينات و كيفية التعرف على الأسلاف المشتركة الأموية و الأبوية. كما يسرد لك بأسلوب قصصي شيق رحلة الصراع الجيني بين الأنوثة و الذكورة. يوضح أيضاً مفهوم الانتخاب الجنسي و طريقة عمله و تأثيراته السريعة و كيف أن الذكورة تعاني من خطر الانقراض على المدى الطويل و قد يكون انقراض الذكور من أهم اسباب انقراض الكثير من الانواع قبلنا. يتميز الكتاب بلغة مبسطة و اسلوب قصصي شيق يساعد جداً في فهم مثل هذه المواضيع المعقدة.
March 30, 2025
This book drills down into the battle of the sexes on a cellular level (and how this has played out in our human history) and why the eventual demise of the Y-chromosome is inevitable.
Found the book packed with just enough technological facts and clear information to not make it too dry and keep you interested.
Found the book packed with just enough technological facts and clear information to not make it too dry and keep you interested.
May 26, 2016
There were a lot of interesting tidbits in this book, but I found Sykes' overall argument somewhat lacking. His thesis seemed to consist of two points: 1) our obsession with wealth and power (and the destruction of the Earth that has come from that) is attributable to the Y chromosome's desire to replicate itself, and its success in doing so through sexual selection, and 2) thankfully for us, the Y chromosome is particularly prone to mutation and has no natural means of fixing those mutations, so over time, the Y chromosome will disappear, and with it, men.
If I understood his argument correctly, our Ferraris, and mansions, and attempts to conquer the globe, are essentially human males' version of peacock feathers. These things (wealth, power, etc.) are what human males use to attract (or, as he freely admits, coerce) human females. He attributes this drive to acquire more wealth, power, etc. at any cost to the Y chromosomes innate desire to replicate itself. He also discusses the rise of agriculture as the thing that allowed the Y chromosome to thrive. He argues that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle did not allow for women to have children more than once every four or five years, because they needed to pay more attention to the child and needed to contribute more to the community. Agriculture changed that, and allowed women to be, more or less, constantly pregnant. In other words, the Y chromosome could go wild.
I'm not clear why agriculture changed the way women select their partners, though. Presumably for thousands and thousands of years, women selected their partners based on certain traits (our equivalent of the peacock's feathers). Why did that selection criteria change? He does freely admit that agriculture led to the abuse of women as well, so they were not always doing much "selecting," in the common sense of the word. But still, this seems like a big shift in a fundamentally biological process. He presents a compelling argument, but I'm not fully convinced. I do think men are to blame for basically all of the problems facing the world today, but I'm not fully on board with saying it's the Y chromosome's desire to replicate itself.
His second main argument is that the Y chromosome is doomed. And he presents a strong argument that this is the case - infertility among men is on the rise, and the Y chromosome is particularly prone to mutation, which will make that trend continue, until all men are infertile. But this is not simply the end of men, this is the end of humanity. He does state that two women, with laboratory assistance, could reproduce, and fair enough - we could have a future of all women, reproducing through an amended IVF process. But if we're willing to factor in IVF and similar procedures, then infertile men could still reproduce - even if their sperm are deformed, they can fertilize an egg with medical assistance. The likelihood of foregoing the latter for a future more like the former seems vanishingly slim. I see his point - the Y chromosome is fatally flawed, and maybe we'd be better off in a world with only women anyway, but the argument seems a bit overblown.
On the whole, though, a very interesting and thought-provoking read!
If I understood his argument correctly, our Ferraris, and mansions, and attempts to conquer the globe, are essentially human males' version of peacock feathers. These things (wealth, power, etc.) are what human males use to attract (or, as he freely admits, coerce) human females. He attributes this drive to acquire more wealth, power, etc. at any cost to the Y chromosomes innate desire to replicate itself. He also discusses the rise of agriculture as the thing that allowed the Y chromosome to thrive. He argues that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle did not allow for women to have children more than once every four or five years, because they needed to pay more attention to the child and needed to contribute more to the community. Agriculture changed that, and allowed women to be, more or less, constantly pregnant. In other words, the Y chromosome could go wild.
I'm not clear why agriculture changed the way women select their partners, though. Presumably for thousands and thousands of years, women selected their partners based on certain traits (our equivalent of the peacock's feathers). Why did that selection criteria change? He does freely admit that agriculture led to the abuse of women as well, so they were not always doing much "selecting," in the common sense of the word. But still, this seems like a big shift in a fundamentally biological process. He presents a compelling argument, but I'm not fully convinced. I do think men are to blame for basically all of the problems facing the world today, but I'm not fully on board with saying it's the Y chromosome's desire to replicate itself.
His second main argument is that the Y chromosome is doomed. And he presents a strong argument that this is the case - infertility among men is on the rise, and the Y chromosome is particularly prone to mutation, which will make that trend continue, until all men are infertile. But this is not simply the end of men, this is the end of humanity. He does state that two women, with laboratory assistance, could reproduce, and fair enough - we could have a future of all women, reproducing through an amended IVF process. But if we're willing to factor in IVF and similar procedures, then infertile men could still reproduce - even if their sperm are deformed, they can fertilize an egg with medical assistance. The likelihood of foregoing the latter for a future more like the former seems vanishingly slim. I see his point - the Y chromosome is fatally flawed, and maybe we'd be better off in a world with only women anyway, but the argument seems a bit overblown.
On the whole, though, a very interesting and thought-provoking read!
December 23, 2025
As we can read in prologue the book is about the genealogical changes in Men. And how these changes define a man on the basis of Y-chromosomes which are going to be extinct.
First chapter is titled as " The original Mr. Sykes". In this chapter author tells about his work that acquainted him with his ancestor " Henry del Sike" the author also tells us that how he was asked one and only question that he couldn't answer and the question is " Are you and Sir Richard Sykes of Glaxo SmithKline related". And how he asked aforementioned gentleman for his DNA so he can answer this difficult question. This paved the path for his research on his family name that who he was ? And whose Y-chromosome he carries in his DNA.
The style of author is so gripping that it never bores you.
Second chapter of the book is titled as "The Lonely Chromosome". As we know it already that Men have X-Y Chromosomes and Women have X-X Chromosomes. It is Y-chromosome that is the bearer of our maleness and it is smaller than X-chromosome. The author describes his experience of examining his own Chromosome which takes him back to thirteenth century, the time in which his ancestor was living and the author is fascinated by just imagining that this is the same chromosome that his father and grandfather and his forefathers possessed.
Third Chapter of the book is titled as " Ribbons of life". In this chapter author explains the history of genetics. He also praises Czech monk Gregor Mendel who is the father of Genetics. Most people that don't like scientific narrative will find this chapter a little boring but I think it was necessary to give information about the beginning of genetics and how it came at this point as it is nowadays. He also praises Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students who did very close inspections in Drosophila melanogaster. He also gives credit to one of Morgan's student Arthur Sturtevant "who realized that the degree to which the features were retained in the offspring was different for different pairs of these mischievous genetic characters".
Fourth chapter is titled as" The Last Embrace ". In this chapter author gives the history that how scientists discovered Y-chromosomes and Y-chromosomes. Well you must be thinking now if you have to study scientific history why to read this book anyway, why not just go to a scientific library and pick a book on the certain topic ? What I think is that you will forget what you'll forget what yow would read to prepare for tests but reading this book will attach to your memory because it does contain the lightness of Literature not dryness of science. I'll quote writer here" It took decades for scientists to correct the mistake and to realize that for humans, the Y-chromosome was far from being the irrelevance it was in the fruit fly".
Chapter 5 " Sex and the single chromosome "
In this chapter author writes about the discovery of correct number of chromosomes which is " 46". Before that breakthrough it was believed that there are 48 chromosomes in humans. After the discovery of correct number of chromosomes many diseases like Down's Syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome and turner syndrome etc were all due to extra number of chromosome.
Here I'll quote some lines from the book" What had been seen as the least important chromosome of all was now revealed as holding the key to the gateway of human sexuality."
Chapter Six was about sex in some kind of fish which changes their sex if the male of that herd is dead or caught by any predator etc. Some female fish of the group transform into male and start to reproduce by producing sperm. That's a wonderful phenomenon to think about.
Chapter Seven of the book is titled " Why bother with Sex". Why sex is important ?
The author gives a large number of examples of animals, worms, vertebrates and invertebrates which can survive and propagate their progeny without bothering with sex. They use cloning method. The author explains that if humans didn't have sex they would not create a variety of humans because the DNA would be same and there won't be any changes to it and All of them would be the copies of one another. So sex is important to create a variety of humans.
After chapter 7 I didn't got the time to write chapter wise review so I will end it here but one thing needs some explanation and I took help from Chatgpt. Here follows what I asked and what answer I got :
Bryan Sykes presented the idea of Y-chromosomes doom in his book Adam's Curse. Although it was written in 2003. So how much more we know from then ?
Answer : A lot has changed since Bryan Sykes’s Adam’s Curse (2003). His “Y-chromosome doom” argument was reasonable given the evidence available then, but two decades of genomics have substantially revised the picture. Here’s a clear, evidence-based update.
1. What Sykes got right (with 2003 knowledge)
In 2003:
The Y chromosome was known to:
Be small (~60 Mb, gene-poor)
Lack normal recombination
Have lost many genes since diverging from the X
Comparative estimates suggested:
Rapid gene loss early in mammalian evolution
Hence Sykes argued:
The Y may eventually disappear (≈10 million years estimate)
At that time, the argument was defensible.
2. The key discoveries after 2003
(A) Complete sequencing of the human Y chromosome (2013)
Hughes et al., Nature (2013) produced the first accurate, complete Y chromosome sequence.
What it showed:
~78 protein-coding genes, not a collapsing remnant
Massive palindromic structures enabling gene conversion
Strong preservation of fertility-critical genes
👉 This was a turning point.
(B) Long-term stability, not ongoing collapse
Comparative genomics revealed:
The human Y has lost almost no genes in the last ~25 million years
Most degeneration occurred very early, then plateaued
This directly contradicted Sykes’s linear extrapolation.
(C) Gene conversion as a maintenance system
Researchers showed:
Palindromic gene conversion:
Corrects deleterious mutations
Maintains dosage-sensitive genes
This mechanism was unknown or poorly appreciated in 2003
This explained:
How a non-recombining chromosome avoids mutational meltdown
(D) Cross-species evidence: Y chromosomes don’t vanish easily
Since 2003, we learned:
Most mammals retain a Y chromosome
Even species with extreme Y reduction stabilize eventually
Rare Y loss cases (e.g., mole voles, some rodents):
Involve replacement sex-determining systems
Not spontaneous Y decay
So Y loss is possible but exceptional, not inevitable.
3. Where Sykes’s argument failed (in hindsight)
(1) Linear extrapolation error
Sykes assumed:
Past rate of gene loss = future rate
Modern data show:
Early rapid loss
Long-term stasis afterward
This is a classic evolutionary mistake.
(2) Underestimating selection
Genes retained on the Y:
Are strongly male-beneficial
Under intense purifying selection
Weak genes were already eliminated long ago.
(3) Ignoring structural innovation
The Y evolved structural solutions:
Palindromes
Multi-copy genes
Self-repair
These weren’t understood in 2003.
4. Modern consensus (2020s)
The human Y chromosome is not doomed.
Current view:
It is:
Small
Specialized
Structurally unusual
But:
Evolutionarily stable
Maintained by strong selection and gene conversion
Some scientists now argue:
The Y has reached an evolutionary “endpoint”
5. Is Adam’s Curse still worth reading?
Yes—but as:
A historical snapshot
A popular science book that stimulated debate
Not as a current scientific forecast
Sykes himself later acknowledged that:
The timeline was likely overstated
The Y is more resilient than assumed
6. Big picture takeaway
From 2003 to now, we learned that:
Lack of recombination ≠ inevitable extinction
Evolution can invent workarounds
The Y chromosome is not dying—just highly optimized.
I learned a lot reading this book it wasn't time wasting and would recommend to science lovers.
First chapter is titled as " The original Mr. Sykes". In this chapter author tells about his work that acquainted him with his ancestor " Henry del Sike" the author also tells us that how he was asked one and only question that he couldn't answer and the question is " Are you and Sir Richard Sykes of Glaxo SmithKline related". And how he asked aforementioned gentleman for his DNA so he can answer this difficult question. This paved the path for his research on his family name that who he was ? And whose Y-chromosome he carries in his DNA.
The style of author is so gripping that it never bores you.
Second chapter of the book is titled as "The Lonely Chromosome". As we know it already that Men have X-Y Chromosomes and Women have X-X Chromosomes. It is Y-chromosome that is the bearer of our maleness and it is smaller than X-chromosome. The author describes his experience of examining his own Chromosome which takes him back to thirteenth century, the time in which his ancestor was living and the author is fascinated by just imagining that this is the same chromosome that his father and grandfather and his forefathers possessed.
Third Chapter of the book is titled as " Ribbons of life". In this chapter author explains the history of genetics. He also praises Czech monk Gregor Mendel who is the father of Genetics. Most people that don't like scientific narrative will find this chapter a little boring but I think it was necessary to give information about the beginning of genetics and how it came at this point as it is nowadays. He also praises Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students who did very close inspections in Drosophila melanogaster. He also gives credit to one of Morgan's student Arthur Sturtevant "who realized that the degree to which the features were retained in the offspring was different for different pairs of these mischievous genetic characters".
Fourth chapter is titled as" The Last Embrace ". In this chapter author gives the history that how scientists discovered Y-chromosomes and Y-chromosomes. Well you must be thinking now if you have to study scientific history why to read this book anyway, why not just go to a scientific library and pick a book on the certain topic ? What I think is that you will forget what you'll forget what yow would read to prepare for tests but reading this book will attach to your memory because it does contain the lightness of Literature not dryness of science. I'll quote writer here" It took decades for scientists to correct the mistake and to realize that for humans, the Y-chromosome was far from being the irrelevance it was in the fruit fly".
Chapter 5 " Sex and the single chromosome "
In this chapter author writes about the discovery of correct number of chromosomes which is " 46". Before that breakthrough it was believed that there are 48 chromosomes in humans. After the discovery of correct number of chromosomes many diseases like Down's Syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome and turner syndrome etc were all due to extra number of chromosome.
Here I'll quote some lines from the book" What had been seen as the least important chromosome of all was now revealed as holding the key to the gateway of human sexuality."
Chapter Six was about sex in some kind of fish which changes their sex if the male of that herd is dead or caught by any predator etc. Some female fish of the group transform into male and start to reproduce by producing sperm. That's a wonderful phenomenon to think about.
Chapter Seven of the book is titled " Why bother with Sex". Why sex is important ?
The author gives a large number of examples of animals, worms, vertebrates and invertebrates which can survive and propagate their progeny without bothering with sex. They use cloning method. The author explains that if humans didn't have sex they would not create a variety of humans because the DNA would be same and there won't be any changes to it and All of them would be the copies of one another. So sex is important to create a variety of humans.
After chapter 7 I didn't got the time to write chapter wise review so I will end it here but one thing needs some explanation and I took help from Chatgpt. Here follows what I asked and what answer I got :
Bryan Sykes presented the idea of Y-chromosomes doom in his book Adam's Curse. Although it was written in 2003. So how much more we know from then ?
Answer : A lot has changed since Bryan Sykes’s Adam’s Curse (2003). His “Y-chromosome doom” argument was reasonable given the evidence available then, but two decades of genomics have substantially revised the picture. Here’s a clear, evidence-based update.
1. What Sykes got right (with 2003 knowledge)
In 2003:
The Y chromosome was known to:
Be small (~60 Mb, gene-poor)
Lack normal recombination
Have lost many genes since diverging from the X
Comparative estimates suggested:
Rapid gene loss early in mammalian evolution
Hence Sykes argued:
The Y may eventually disappear (≈10 million years estimate)
At that time, the argument was defensible.
2. The key discoveries after 2003
(A) Complete sequencing of the human Y chromosome (2013)
Hughes et al., Nature (2013) produced the first accurate, complete Y chromosome sequence.
What it showed:
~78 protein-coding genes, not a collapsing remnant
Massive palindromic structures enabling gene conversion
Strong preservation of fertility-critical genes
👉 This was a turning point.
(B) Long-term stability, not ongoing collapse
Comparative genomics revealed:
The human Y has lost almost no genes in the last ~25 million years
Most degeneration occurred very early, then plateaued
This directly contradicted Sykes’s linear extrapolation.
(C) Gene conversion as a maintenance system
Researchers showed:
Palindromic gene conversion:
Corrects deleterious mutations
Maintains dosage-sensitive genes
This mechanism was unknown or poorly appreciated in 2003
This explained:
How a non-recombining chromosome avoids mutational meltdown
(D) Cross-species evidence: Y chromosomes don’t vanish easily
Since 2003, we learned:
Most mammals retain a Y chromosome
Even species with extreme Y reduction stabilize eventually
Rare Y loss cases (e.g., mole voles, some rodents):
Involve replacement sex-determining systems
Not spontaneous Y decay
So Y loss is possible but exceptional, not inevitable.
3. Where Sykes’s argument failed (in hindsight)
(1) Linear extrapolation error
Sykes assumed:
Past rate of gene loss = future rate
Modern data show:
Early rapid loss
Long-term stasis afterward
This is a classic evolutionary mistake.
(2) Underestimating selection
Genes retained on the Y:
Are strongly male-beneficial
Under intense purifying selection
Weak genes were already eliminated long ago.
(3) Ignoring structural innovation
The Y evolved structural solutions:
Palindromes
Multi-copy genes
Self-repair
These weren’t understood in 2003.
4. Modern consensus (2020s)
The human Y chromosome is not doomed.
Current view:
It is:
Small
Specialized
Structurally unusual
But:
Evolutionarily stable
Maintained by strong selection and gene conversion
Some scientists now argue:
The Y has reached an evolutionary “endpoint”
5. Is Adam’s Curse still worth reading?
Yes—but as:
A historical snapshot
A popular science book that stimulated debate
Not as a current scientific forecast
Sykes himself later acknowledged that:
The timeline was likely overstated
The Y is more resilient than assumed
6. Big picture takeaway
From 2003 to now, we learned that:
Lack of recombination ≠ inevitable extinction
Evolution can invent workarounds
The Y chromosome is not dying—just highly optimized.
I learned a lot reading this book it wasn't time wasting and would recommend to science lovers.
October 14, 2023
Bryan Sykes' book, "The Adam's Curse," offers a profound exploration into understanding the genetic makeup of both women and men. It opens the door to a clearer understanding of the potential dangers that the future holds for the male lineage. Furthermore, the book provides an exciting glimpse into how reproductive methods might evolve in the future. By demonstrating how the world could exist within a female-dominated societal framework in the future, this work broadens our horizons. Sykes' book invites us on an engaging and thought-provoking journey into the realms of genetic science and societal change.
Bryan Sykes'in "Adem'in Laneti" kitabı, kadının ve erkeğin genetik yapısını anlama konusundaki derinlemesine bir keşfe kapı aralıyor. Bu, gelecekte erkek neslini bekleyen tehlikeleri daha net bir şekilde anlamamıza yardımcı oluyor. Ayrıca kitap, üreme biçimlerinin gelecekte nasıl evrilebileceğine dair heyecan verici bir bakış sunuyor. Bu eser, gelecekte dünyanın kadın egemen bir toplum düzeni içinde nasıl yaşanabileceğini göstererek, ufuklarımızı genişletiyor. Sykes'in kitabı, genetik bilim ve toplumsal değişim konularında ilgi çekici ve düşündürücü bir yolculuğa davet ediyor.
Bryan Sykes'in "Adem'in Laneti" kitabı, kadının ve erkeğin genetik yapısını anlama konusundaki derinlemesine bir keşfe kapı aralıyor. Bu, gelecekte erkek neslini bekleyen tehlikeleri daha net bir şekilde anlamamıza yardımcı oluyor. Ayrıca kitap, üreme biçimlerinin gelecekte nasıl evrilebileceğine dair heyecan verici bir bakış sunuyor. Bu eser, gelecekte dünyanın kadın egemen bir toplum düzeni içinde nasıl yaşanabileceğini göstererek, ufuklarımızı genişletiyor. Sykes'in kitabı, genetik bilim ve toplumsal değişim konularında ilgi çekici ve düşündürücü bir yolculuğa davet ediyor.
June 2, 2017
This book talked clearly about the fever of Y chromosome and how it won against the X chromosome. The ancient battle between both chromosomes and how they even fight each other in the womb of the mother.
How the fight can goes on after having a birth and how different cultures had to deal with the new babies.
The age of Vikings and their insistent urge of men to mate with as many women as they can and posibble. As their first born sons accumulated wealth enough to collect more women and the unfortunate brother should seek the mating apportunity far at another lands.
Sexual selection acts through wealth and power. It has several distributions about the balance between the two sexes
Y chromosome is definitely involved in deciding the sex of the fetus, not Mitochondrial DNA. Even though both sexes need Mitochondrial DNA and the NUCLEAR chromosome did its best to capture Mitochondrial gene over the course of evolution.
How SRY gene is the solution for the Y chromosome and how the Mole Vole came up and developed a self defense mechanism to protect its Y chromosome from going extinct
How the sperms are getting less by time and how we are going to face an age with no sperms enough. With a percent of 1% each 5.000 years. It means no more than 125.000 years. Unless Y chromosome came up with a solution to save itself. Plus the other obstacles that Y chromosome is facing, which is the mutations that hit the sperms more than the eggs in women. Because of the non stop producing of the sperms unlike the eggs. Each time a mutation happen in the DNA of the sperms. It weaken it till the time it will become extinct and vanish away
How the fight can goes on after having a birth and how different cultures had to deal with the new babies.
The age of Vikings and their insistent urge of men to mate with as many women as they can and posibble. As their first born sons accumulated wealth enough to collect more women and the unfortunate brother should seek the mating apportunity far at another lands.
Sexual selection acts through wealth and power. It has several distributions about the balance between the two sexes
Y chromosome is definitely involved in deciding the sex of the fetus, not Mitochondrial DNA. Even though both sexes need Mitochondrial DNA and the NUCLEAR chromosome did its best to capture Mitochondrial gene over the course of evolution.
How SRY gene is the solution for the Y chromosome and how the Mole Vole came up and developed a self defense mechanism to protect its Y chromosome from going extinct
How the sperms are getting less by time and how we are going to face an age with no sperms enough. With a percent of 1% each 5.000 years. It means no more than 125.000 years. Unless Y chromosome came up with a solution to save itself. Plus the other obstacles that Y chromosome is facing, which is the mutations that hit the sperms more than the eggs in women. Because of the non stop producing of the sperms unlike the eggs. Each time a mutation happen in the DNA of the sperms. It weaken it till the time it will become extinct and vanish away
May 17, 2020
الرجال، هؤلاء الكائنات الشوهاء التي تتسبب بجل معاناة العالم، فالحروب و الجرائم و السرقات و الاغتصاب، هي حتما مجال تخصص و الرجال. ذكر واحد، يكفي لاستمرار نسل مجتمع صغير يضم حريما من النساء، هذا العدد الغير مبرر من الذكور، يسرع بالبشرية الى حتفها. و السبب....... صبغي واحد قزم لعين يرمز له ب Y. يتنبأ بعض العلماء بانقراض هذا الصبغي الذي ما فتئ يتضائل.
كتاب براين سايكس هذا سلس مسل و ممتع، قرأته مع أحد أصديقائي المقربين.
كتاب يضع المعلومة في طبق و يدعوك إلى سغرة لا تنقضي فائدتها ببلوغ نهاية الكتاب.
نظرية براين بخصوص الشذوذ الجنسي غير علمية أبدا و هذا مأخذي الوحيد على الكتاب. إذ أنه يقر بتنافي مبادئ البيولوجية مع استمرار ضهور الشواذ في المجتمع، إم كان مرضا - او أي يكن- فينبغيأن ينقرض بغضون عدد محدود من الاجيال لأن الشواذ لا يخلفون بعدهم منيحمل نفس حقيبتهم الوراثية. براين سايكس يحل المشكلة بمقارنة الأمر مع النحل، حيث يعمد بعض الذكور إلى حماية الملكة و بالتالي فالشاذ قد يستمر مع البشر لتوفير حماية للأم. حسنا..... هذا سخيف. أولا من المفترض أن النحل نسخ جينية متطابقة، و بالتالي لو ضحت نحلة لانقاذ أخرى فإنما تنقذ نفسها ( عدتها الجينية نفسها). ليس الأمر كذلك بالنسبة للبشر، ثانيا، قد لا يرتبط الشذوذ الجنسي بالجينات بشكل وثيق، قد يكون ألصق بالتنشئة الثقافية، فالمجتمعات التي تتسامح بل و تشجع الشذوذ، تسجل فيها حالات أكثر لهذه الظاهرة من مجتمعات أخرى لا تعيره اهتماما أو قد تعاقب عليه. ثالثا تعتبرanqlogies المقارنات من هذا النوع من أضعف الحجج المنطقية
متشوق لقراؤة كتابه: سبع بنات لحواء.
كتاب براين سايكس هذا سلس مسل و ممتع، قرأته مع أحد أصديقائي المقربين.
كتاب يضع المعلومة في طبق و يدعوك إلى سغرة لا تنقضي فائدتها ببلوغ نهاية الكتاب.
نظرية براين بخصوص الشذوذ الجنسي غير علمية أبدا و هذا مأخذي الوحيد على الكتاب. إذ أنه يقر بتنافي مبادئ البيولوجية مع استمرار ضهور الشواذ في المجتمع، إم كان مرضا - او أي يكن- فينبغيأن ينقرض بغضون عدد محدود من الاجيال لأن الشواذ لا يخلفون بعدهم منيحمل نفس حقيبتهم الوراثية. براين سايكس يحل المشكلة بمقارنة الأمر مع النحل، حيث يعمد بعض الذكور إلى حماية الملكة و بالتالي فالشاذ قد يستمر مع البشر لتوفير حماية للأم. حسنا..... هذا سخيف. أولا من المفترض أن النحل نسخ جينية متطابقة، و بالتالي لو ضحت نحلة لانقاذ أخرى فإنما تنقذ نفسها ( عدتها الجينية نفسها). ليس الأمر كذلك بالنسبة للبشر، ثانيا، قد لا يرتبط الشذوذ الجنسي بالجينات بشكل وثيق، قد يكون ألصق بالتنشئة الثقافية، فالمجتمعات التي تتسامح بل و تشجع الشذوذ، تسجل فيها حالات أكثر لهذه الظاهرة من مجتمعات أخرى لا تعيره اهتماما أو قد تعاقب عليه. ثالثا تعتبرanqlogies المقارنات من هذا النوع من أضعف الحجج المنطقية
متشوق لقراؤة كتابه: سبع بنات لحواء.
April 27, 2019
Eğer bu kitap ile lise yıllarımda karşılaşmış olsaydım üniversite tercihimi kesinlikle genetik bölümünden yana kullanırdım :)
Gereksiz tekrarlardan ve basitleştirme çabalarından uzak ama bir o kadar da anlaşılır ve okunaklı bir kitap idi. İlgiyi sürekli ayakta tutan, romansı bir anlatımı ve genetik bilimine özendirici, yeni araştırmalara teşvik eden bir yanı vardı.
Peki kitap neden bahsediyordu? Bir kere odaktaki konu kadınlık ve erkeklik genlerinin birbiri üzerindeki üstünlük mücadelesi. Anneden aktarılan mDNA’nın ve babadan gelen Y kromozomunun sonraki nesillere kendilerini taşıtmak adına ne tür kurnazlıklar (!) peşinde olduğunu anlatıyor. Buna zemin hazırlamak için de mDNA, X ve Y kromozomlarının özelliklerinden bahsediyor, eşeyli üreme ve cinsiyetin nereden türediğine değiniyor. Sonuçta yüzbinlerce yıl önce olup bitmiş olaylar bunlar ve ortaya atılan her şey birer teoriden ibaret. Ancak bu kitap tarafından kapsanan kısmı bana hayli tutarlı ve tatmin edici geldi. Yazar okuyucunun zihninde herhangi bir boşluk veya şüphe kalmasına izin vermeksizin ikna edici bir şekilde teorilerini ortaya koymuş.
Genetik okumalarımda bundan sonraki durağım ise Richard Dawkins olacak. Yakın geçmişte bitirdiğim Matt Ridley’nin Genom’undan sonra bu kitapta da gördüm ki güncel genetik konularında tüm yollar bir şekilde kendisine çıkıyor.
Gereksiz tekrarlardan ve basitleştirme çabalarından uzak ama bir o kadar da anlaşılır ve okunaklı bir kitap idi. İlgiyi sürekli ayakta tutan, romansı bir anlatımı ve genetik bilimine özendirici, yeni araştırmalara teşvik eden bir yanı vardı.
Peki kitap neden bahsediyordu? Bir kere odaktaki konu kadınlık ve erkeklik genlerinin birbiri üzerindeki üstünlük mücadelesi. Anneden aktarılan mDNA’nın ve babadan gelen Y kromozomunun sonraki nesillere kendilerini taşıtmak adına ne tür kurnazlıklar (!) peşinde olduğunu anlatıyor. Buna zemin hazırlamak için de mDNA, X ve Y kromozomlarının özelliklerinden bahsediyor, eşeyli üreme ve cinsiyetin nereden türediğine değiniyor. Sonuçta yüzbinlerce yıl önce olup bitmiş olaylar bunlar ve ortaya atılan her şey birer teoriden ibaret. Ancak bu kitap tarafından kapsanan kısmı bana hayli tutarlı ve tatmin edici geldi. Yazar okuyucunun zihninde herhangi bir boşluk veya şüphe kalmasına izin vermeksizin ikna edici bir şekilde teorilerini ortaya koymuş.
Genetik okumalarımda bundan sonraki durağım ise Richard Dawkins olacak. Yakın geçmişte bitirdiğim Matt Ridley’nin Genom’undan sonra bu kitapta da gördüm ki güncel genetik konularında tüm yollar bir şekilde kendisine çıkıyor.
September 23, 2018
رااااااائع جدًا
لن تستطيع وصف الكتاب بأنه كتاب في البيولوجيا فقط
إنه كتابٌ فلسفيّ
يمكنك قراءته كمهتمّ بالفلسفة
أو إن شئت أدرجه ضمن تخصّصه الأصلي وهو البيولوجيا
يمكن أن أيضًا ضمّه إلى فئة العلوم الشعبية المبسّطة
فإن كان مؤلفه من أكبر الباحثين لعلم الوراثة ورسم خريطة الجينوم إلا أنه حرص على تقديم الكتاب للقارئ البسيط الذي يريد التثقف في هذا المجال
لولا النزعة الفلسفية الواضحة فيه لكان من الممكن أن يدرس ككتاب مدرسي إلا أنّ موضوع الكتاب الرئيس وهو "لعنة الكروموسوم y" ستربك الطلبة فيما لو درسوه
من الممكن جدًا أن يحوّل هذا الكتاب إلى برنامج وثائقي تلفزيوني
أتمنى أن يتاح لي الوقت والإمكانيات الفنية لتحويله في يوم ما إلى برنامج على يوتيوب على الأقل
لن تستطيع وصف الكتاب بأنه كتاب في البيولوجيا فقط
إنه كتابٌ فلسفيّ
يمكنك قراءته كمهتمّ بالفلسفة
أو إن شئت أدرجه ضمن تخصّصه الأصلي وهو البيولوجيا
يمكن أن أيضًا ضمّه إلى فئة العلوم الشعبية المبسّطة
فإن كان مؤلفه من أكبر الباحثين لعلم الوراثة ورسم خريطة الجينوم إلا أنه حرص على تقديم الكتاب للقارئ البسيط الذي يريد التثقف في هذا المجال
لولا النزعة الفلسفية الواضحة فيه لكان من الممكن أن يدرس ككتاب مدرسي إلا أنّ موضوع الكتاب الرئيس وهو "لعنة الكروموسوم y" ستربك الطلبة فيما لو درسوه
من الممكن جدًا أن يحوّل هذا الكتاب إلى برنامج وثائقي تلفزيوني
أتمنى أن يتاح لي الوقت والإمكانيات الفنية لتحويله في يوم ما إلى برنامج على يوتيوب على الأقل
December 11, 2016
خلط بريان سايكس علوم البيولوجي والأنثروبولوجيا والتاريخ بسلاسة وسهولة لغير المتخصصين. كما غلف كل النظريات والتجارب المطروحة بقصص شيقة تجعلك تتابع النتائج دون ملل. بعض الفصول مدهشة فيما تحويه من معلومات والبعض الاخر يحتاج تركيز تام ومتابعة للرسوم التوضيحية للوصول الى الصورة كاملة.
العيب الوحيد بالكتاب يرجع للمترجم في موضعين برأيي أولها في الأمثلة التي المحتوي على اسماء كثيرة والتي كان من الممكن عرضها بطرية أفضل للقارئ العربي، وثانيها استخدام وصفي الخلاعة والرجال الخلعاء كناية عن صفة الشذوذ الجنسي وهو ما يتعارض مع الطبيعة العلمية للكتاب ويقحم رأي المترجم به بغير وججه حق.
العيب الوحيد بالكتاب يرجع للمترجم في موضعين برأيي أولها في الأمثلة التي المحتوي على اسماء كثيرة والتي كان من الممكن عرضها بطرية أفضل للقارئ العربي، وثانيها استخدام وصفي الخلاعة والرجال الخلعاء كناية عن صفة الشذوذ الجنسي وهو ما يتعارض مع الطبيعة العلمية للكتاب ويقحم رأي المترجم به بغير وججه حق.
January 27, 2010
It got me hooked with the line "125,000 years from now, the human race will reach the ultimate evolutionary crisis that has been millions of years in the making: the extinction of men." Well I'm on chapter 24 of 25 and the author still has not addressed that claim. Regardless, it's a good book about genetics and brings up some interesting theories about the drive of the Y-chromosome and it's history. Worth reading, but ladies, don't get your hopes up like I did. =)
October 3, 2013
a very readable book by a geneticist; surprisingly he links his research on human's y-chromosome and what he thinks is its link to the sexual attraction of wealth, power and influence to the demise of goddess worship; it's a fascinating premise which ties in so perfectly with my world view and interest in the goddess; I suspect that this view would diminish him among his fellow scientists; I definitely want to read his first book now, The Seven Daughters of Eve
November 30, 2013
مضمون الكتاب مخيف وخاصة الأبحاث والدراسات العلمية والتي تثبت تفوق الأنثى على الذكر مما يفسر التصرف العنيف وردة الفعل الغريبة أثناء تميز الأنثى وما يسببه من غيرة وتصرفات عشوائية من الذكر ضد الأنثى .
أعتقد من وجهة نظري أن فيه من الحقائق ما يكفي لإعادة التفكير بجدية بإستقلالية الأنثى التام.
أعتقد من وجهة نظري أن فيه من الحقائق ما يكفي لإعادة التفكير بجدية بإستقلالية الأنثى التام.
July 28, 2021
Excellent scientific research which nosedives into dystopic science fiction in the final chapter. Just rip that out when you first purchase the book and enjoy the rest of what may be the most fascinating genetic research of our time.
May 7, 2008
This is a difficult book to read but if you're into genetics or not it's still really fascinating. Who'd of thought that men could go extinct and leave all us ladies behind !!!
September 13, 2010
you don't really need a medical background to read this book, i find it highly informative and it explains why probably women are more capable of surviving(genetically) more than men
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