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  • A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

  • The Stories in Our Genes
  • By: Adam Rutherford
  • Narrated by: Adam Rutherford
  • Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (129 ratings)

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A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

By: Adam Rutherford
Narrated by: Adam Rutherford
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Publisher's Summary

This is a story about you. It is the history of who you are and how you came to be. It is unique to you, as it is for every one of the 100 billion modern humans who has ever drawn breath. But it is also our collective story, because in each of our genomes we carry the history of the whole of our species. 

Since scientists first read the human genome in 2001, it has been subject to all sorts of claims, counterclaims and myths. Drawing together the latest discoveries in this rapidly changing area of science, Adam Rutherford shows that in fact our genomes should be read not like instruction manuals but more like epic poems. Genes determine less than we have been led to believe about us as individuals but vastly more about us as a species. 

In this captivating journey through the expanding landscape of genetics, written with great clarity and wit, Adam Rutherford reveals what our genes now tell us about human history and what history tells us about our genes. From Neanderthal discoveries to microbiology, from redheads to dead royals, criminology to race relations, evolution to epigenetics, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is a demystifying and illuminating new portrait of who we are and how we came to be. 

Written and read by acclaimed science writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio. 

©2016 Adam Rutherford (P)2016 Orion Publishing Group

What listeners say about A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book

lots of varied and interesting topics on genes and evolution. it's always great to have the author narrate their own book.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Engaging and approachable

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Adam Rutherford has a friendly manner and manages to draw a narrative from the very complex and somewhat still mysterious subject of genetics that is engaging and thoughtful and approachable for a layperson (like me) to wrap (most of) my science avoiding head around.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the debunking of some common misconceptions especially on the topic of race

What does Adam Rutherford bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

he has a nice voice and I didn't have to read it myself!

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2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

I need Adam to do more actual research

The title of this book, is the best thing about this book and definitely what made me purchase it. That’s the favorable part of my review. The negative part of my review is formed mainly through Adam discussing his opinion without factual support. There are numerous instances of this but I will simply name two.

Firstly Adam states that Coeliac disease is a type of irritable bowel. Wow, this really annoyed me as it is such an uneducated thing to say in a book that may shape people’s opinions. Coeliac disease is an immune reaction to eating gluten which creates inflammation that damages the small intestine lining. More specifically the bowel is covered in tiny, hair-like projections called villi that break-down and absorb food nutrients. In a Coeliac the villi become inflamed and flattened by the gluten. Gluten is a word in Latin meaning glue. Doctor David Perlmutter goes beyond discussing the effects Gluten has on a diagnosed Coeliac by discussing the effects of gluten on non-coeliac patients in his research based booked call Grain Brain (Thats a great book). For many years I had no obvious reaction to gluten, however my reactions now mirror my coeliac children’s reactions with extreme vomiting and periods of being extremely unwell when exposed to food that is only contaminated. I won’t go into the significant mental and physical benefits a gluten free diet has had for me and my family, but this goes well beyond the poultry description Adam offers up.
Adam also dismisses a Paleo diet like any other fad that sees people gain and lose weight and in his opinion this diet is rather pointless as we are eating better now than ever. Again, there is no evidence in what he is saying to back this up, it’s just an opinion. With the introduction of sugar into our diets, antibiotics and corn syrup to name a few items we are seeing some of the most obese humans in history. Paleo is also a life style choice of eating, not an attempt to lose weight necessarily. I should also point out I am not nor have I even chosen to eat a strictly Paleo diet.
I won’t go any further than this but I will simply state that I can not recommend this book to anyone.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Riveting and informative

Can’t say enough good about this… fascinating listen and wonderful in this “age of polarisation” to be reminded that we are all really, at the end of the day, the same. But different. But the same.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very good biological analysis but…

I love the biological analysis in this book. Very deep, very abundant and containing many biological facts that I can learn from it. But the first half of the book (or the beginning few chapters) weren’t as good as the rest of the book. I had to listen to the whole book to like it because there weren’t much in the few beginning chapters. I also don’t agree with the author’s speculation about religions.
Overall, it’s a worth reading book of science and human biological development.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So Interesting

Thank you very much for this book. I loved it. Such a wonderful wealth of fascinating information.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

really good and informative

really enjoy this one. lots of information presented in a scientific yet tangible. interesting all the way through

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Ian
  • 03-03-2019

Very enjoyable

Great book, very interesting, well narrated and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Highly recommended

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting view of the history of genes

Adam provides an easy to listen to explanation of genes, their myths and what they can actually tell us.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superbly brilliant

The book and narration held my attention from beginning to end. The presentation of some very complex scientific facts was perfectly articulated.

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