This book had a lot of potential. The topic had almost limitless potential and great inherent interest. However, this book was seriously under-edited.

The interesting parts were buried in too much extraneous language. The author seems to feel the need to explain every element of basic high school biology instead of cutting to the genetics chase. Then, when discussing the way genomes are analyzed, he provides no specific or quantitative description of how this is done, preferring instead to describe it qualitatively as "sophisticated and sensitive statistical analysis" or "the subtlest of statistics" and such language. I'm not looking for a text on computational genomics, but he doesn't even address things like what it even means to be "2% neanderthal" or how positive selection can be inferred for an allele.

The other way in which the editor failed was in leaving huge volumes of the author's personal philosophical reflection on the significantly of genetics and to refuting the idea of genes as "destiny." I understand the author apparently feels strongly about changing some widespread perceptions about these things, but I read this book to learn something. If you already know anything about genetics, this book is likely not to be worth a read. There is little interesting info and much pontifocating about "meaning," ironically interspersed with frequent paeans about how science finds insights despite personal beliefs or assumptions.