Adam's Curse: A Future without Men

by Bryan Sykes

Overview

The inside story of the Y chromosome's fatal flaw, as told by one of the world's leading geneticists.

By the nationally best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, Adam's Curse investigates the ultimate evolutionary crisis: a man-free future. How is it possible that the Y chromosome, which separated the sexes and allowed humans to rise to the apex of the animal kingdom, also threatens to destroy sexual reproduction altogether? Bryan Sykes confronts recent advances in evolutionary theory to find the answers to the questions that inexorably follow: Is there a genetic cause for men's greed, aggression, and promiscuity? Could a male homosexual gene possibly exist? A must read for anyone interested in popular science, family genealogy, and today's infertility crisis, Adam's Curse provokes a shocking debate on the nature of sexual reproduction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393326802
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	05/17/2005
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	334
Sales rank:	717,318
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, pioneered the use of DNA in exploring the human past. He is the author of Saxons, Vikings, and Celts and the New York Times bestseller The Seven Daughters of Eve.

Editorial Reviews

Well-known Oxford geneticist Sykes (The Seven Daughters of Eve), in this lively and thought-provoking book, gives a genetic twist to the battle between the sexes. All human existence, he says, stems from the battle between the X and Y chromosomes to further their own reproduction at the expense of the other. The Y chromosome is passed on only by fathers, while mitochondrial DNA is passed on only by mothers. Sykes shows that many members of several Scottish clans (most notably the Macdonalds) can be traced via their Y chromosomes back to a common ancestor. Researchers have also been able to trace the extent of Viking settlement and intermarriage in the British Isles and northern Europe through Y chromosome distribution. Sykes's argument for a genetic role in homosexuality will undoubtedly be controversial. Using Dean Hamer's pedigrees, he claims that evidence points less to a "gay gene" than to mitochondrial DNA playing the leading role in a Machiavellian plot to further its own reproduction. Sykes concludes by noting that, as evidenced by declining sperm counts and high percentages of abnormal sperm, among other variables, the Y chromosome is a genetic mess and is deteriorating so quickly that men could become extinct. Those who find that a happy thought will want to snap up this book, as well as readers interested in learning what our chromosomes tell us about where we came from and where we may be headed. 6 illus. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly