UNDERSTANDING DNA ANCESTRY

Sheldon Krimsky Cambridge University Press, 170 pages, £11.99

‘Ethnicity’ estimates, a major element in public interest in DNA testing, form the main focus of this book. The author provides an overview of the subject, covering the development of DNA ancestry testing as a business; what DNA can tell us about ancestral origins; the science behind the tests; the methodologies employed by testing companies; and the problems of interpreting results. There is also some coverage of forensic applications, ethical issues and the minefield of potential unexpected results associated with testing.

However, the presentation of these issues and the conclusions drawn pose some problems for the reader. Considerable repetition leads to a lack of clarity, but more seriously some of the detailed scientific information is misleading or inaccurate, undermining confidence in other areas of the work. Another problem is that there is little mention of ‘cousin matching’ or the benefits of Y-DNA testing, and greater emphasis might have been given to their importance.

Because of the problems involved in deducing biogeographical origins from DNA tests, it is difficult to reach definitive conclusions on the value of this aspect of test results. This comes through in the book and there is no doubt that, as the author admits, ‘ethnicity’ estimates are a work in progress.

Graham S Holton is the principal tutor in genealogy at the University of Strathclyde