Who We Are And How We Got Here:Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

This is an account of the human past derived from applying the latest technology in genomics (the study of DNA), namely Next Generation Sequencing or NGS. The book contains 286 pages of narrative with 30 figures, along with 30 pages of notes. We need to compliment David Reich for making a difficult subject understandable to the common reader and scientist alike, though the small font is a deterrent to comfortable reading. There are a handful of pioneers in the world in the field of ancient DNA studies, and Reich’s book proves him to be one. The advent of NGS has benefitted the field of archaeology by enabling the study of even poorly preserved DNA recovered from buried/fossilized bones of our ancestors.