Paper and Spit (book review)

Anderson, Don (2017). Paper and Spit: Family found: How DNA and Genealogy revealed my first parents' identity. Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781544606989.
From the publisher's book description: "Using DNA and genealogy, Anderson finds not only the identity of his birth parents but also his true ethnic heritage."

Paper and Spit chronicles an adoptee's search for birth family, from the traditional paper search and reunion with his birth mother to the modern DNA search for his birth father and ultimate closure. The author's enthusiasm and dedication to the task, which involved a huge learning curve and effort gathering evidence, are apparent on every page. He was blessed with many helpers and welcoming family members along the way. May the book set examples for those searching and those found and those able to help people with unknown parentage to find answers and healing.

The book is reasonably light on technical detail and I do not view it as a how to guide, rather as one searcher's personal experiences.

The Foundling (book review)

Fronczak, Paul Joseph and Tresniowski, Alex (2017). The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me. Published by Howard Books. ISBN 9781501142123.
From the publisher's book description: "Paul took a DNA test. The test revealed definitively that he was not Paul Fronczak. From that moment on, Paul has been on a tireless mission to find the man whose life he’s been living—and to discover who abandoned him, and why."

The Foundling is a fascinating and gripping story about uncovering the true identity of Paul Fronczak, an abandoned baby in the 1960s whose unknown parentage case is inextricably linked with a once high-profile FBI case about a stolen baby, using the latest DNA technology and old school detective work. It details the deeply personal experiences of all the people involved in such a search, the sacrifices made, the highs and lows, and the drive to persevere without any guarantee of closure or a happy ending.

Paul uncovered his origins thanks to modern technology, the help of several experts, and the luck involved in matching relatives who had also submitted their DNA to genetic genealogy databases and were willing to help. There is a fair amount of detail about the search methods used, without being overly technical. This book should be of interest to anyone undertaking an unknown parentage search.

Genetic Genealogy in Practice (book review)

Bettinger, Blaine T. and Wayne, Debbie Parker (November 18, 2016). Genetic Genealogy in Practice. Published by National Genealogical Society, Inc. ISBN 9781935815228.
From the publisher's book description: "At their own pace, readers learn the basic concepts of genetic genealogy. They then build on that knowledge as they study the testing, analysis, and application of YDNA, X-DNA, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal DNA (atDNA) to reach and support genealogical conclusions. Each chapter includes exercises with answer keys for hands-on practice."

This excellent workbook by two industry experts covers genetic genealogy theory and current tests and tools. About one third of the book comprises exercises (with solutions) exploring how to apply the theory in practice to a wide range of genealogical problems. The book also covers how to present results professionally.

I would recommend it to genealogists with an academic mindset but anyone with an interest in the subject can learn from it.

A Family Apart (book review)

Steffen, Craig A. (July 22, 2015). A Family Apart: Sleuthing the Mysteries of Abandonment, Adoption and DNA. Published by Cognoscente Publishing. ISBN 9780996364201.
From the publisher's book description: "a fascinating ride into the methodical quest of an orphan to uncover the truth about his origins".

This memoir tells a great story close to my heart. The author was relentless and left no stone unturned searching for his truth. The editing could have been better and the science was not explained well, which is a pity as it is a great medium for educating others searching for their birth parents.

The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy (book review)

Bettinger, Blaine T. (October 13, 2016). The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy. Published by Family Tree Books. ISBN 9781440345326.
From the publisher's book description: "This plain-English guide is a one-stop resource for how to use DNA testing for genealogy."

This comprehensive textbook by a respected industry expert covers the various tests and tools available today and is essential reading for anyone serious about genetic genealogy.

The editing should have been better. There are a few minor errors and omissions, especially in illustration captions, which fortunately I am knowledgeable enough to dismiss. Hopefully they will be corrected in future editions. The section for adoptees could also be beefed up a bit.

Pandora's DNA (book review)

Stark, Lizzie (2014). Pandora's DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Science, and One Family Tree. Published by Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613748602.
From the publisher's book description: "Stark uses her family’s experience to frame a larger story about the so-called breast cancer genes, exploring the morass of legal quandaries, scientific developments, medical breakthroughs, and ethical concerns that surround the BRCA mutations, from the troubling history of prophylactic surgery and the storied origins of the boob job to the landmark lawsuit against Myriad Genetics, which held patents on the BRCA genes every human carries in their body until the Supreme Court overturned them in 2013."

Lizzie Stark is a first generation BRCA patient who has taken advantage of the ability to undertake genetic testing for the hereditary BRCA mutations that put some families at significantly greater risk than others of breast and ovarian cancer diagnosis. Pandora's DNA covers her family's medical history and her admittedly privileged personal decision-making process which nevertheless involves loss and trade-offs. It also addresses how much, and in some respects how little, has been achieved in the field of women's health, and highlights some notable individuals and events in history that have advanced technology to where it is today.

The Stranger in My Genes (book review)

Griffeth, Bill (September 6, 2016). The Stranger in My Genes. Published by New England Historic Genealogical Society. ISBN 9780880823449.
From the publisher's book description: "Bill Griffeth, longtime genealogy buff, takes a DNA test that has an unexpected outcome: 'If the results were correct, it meant that the family tree I had spent years documenting was not my own.'"

This personal memoir by CNBC anchor Bill Griffeth was a short easy read on a topic that interests me in general as a genealogy and DNA researcher with my own (now solved) family mystery and because I share DNA with the author's Griffeth cousin. One small quibble is that the book confuses mtDNA with X-chromosomes (brothers with the same mother are expected to share identical mtDNA, not necessarily X-chromosomes, and mtDNA results for the author and his brother were almost certainly what he was comparing not X-chromosome data as stated). I therefore don't recommend it for the science aspect, but that represents a very small part of the memoir.

Finding Family (book review)

Hill, Richard (August 17, 2012). Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA. Published by CreateSpace. ISBN 9781475190830.
From the publisher's book description: "Finding Family is the first book to chronicle the paradigm-shifting application of genetic genealogy to adoption search"
(see also "DNA helps man unlock mystery of his birth father's identity" by Sue Thoms, The Grand Rapids Press)

This memoir is a tale of perseverance over many years in one man's search for answers about his origins. The effort he put into his search is enormous. I understand what drives him because I am still searching. It is one of very few books that incorporate the magic of DNA testing as an aid to crack such a case, although you can encounter many similar stories online now. I would especially recommend this book to those looking for easy answers and those ready to give up, to give them some perspective about what may be required of them and how the passage of time can help them in more ways than one.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (book review)

Skloot, Rebecca (2010). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Published by Crown Publishing Group, New York. ISBN 9781400052172.
From the publisher's book description: "Rebecca Skloot's fascinating account is the story of the life, and afterlife, of one woman who changed the medical world forever. Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is fascinating, eye-opening, educational and engaging. Skloot tells many sides of the story as she grapples with the complex issues of science for profit, informed consent and privacy in a developing field.

The Lacks family ultimately understood the value of their mother's contribution to medicine and thanks to Skloot many others will too. As Henrietta's daughter Deborah says: "if you gonna go into history, you can’t do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was different."

A major development in the field since the book was published relates to a US court case challenging gene patents (Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics): "On June 13, 2013, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court invalidated Myriad's claims to isolated genes. The Court held that merely isolating genes that are found in nature does not make them patentable." (Source: Wikipedia)

Incidentally, the state of Maryland where much of the story takes place has among the most paternalistic laws relating to genetic testing today, to the chagrin of would-be direct-to-consumer customers. (See "Maryland says, no DTC genetic testing for you" by Frank Hecker.) Regulation doesn't necessarily benefit the individual sources of biological material.

Bird of Paradise (book review)

Cepeda, Raquel (March 5, 2013). Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina. Published by Atria Books. 336 pages. ISBN 978-1451635867.
From the publisher's book description: "Cepeda parses concepts of race, identity, and ancestral DNA among Latinos by using her own Dominican-American story as one example"

I recently read a comment by Bonnie LeRoy, a professor in genetic counselling, in a newspaper article on personal genomics: "people don't feel grounded unless they have an idea of who they are through their genes". I don't know anything about the hip-hop culture in which Cepeda has made a name for herself, or what it's like to be a person "of multiple races" (her words) in a white-dominated society. I do know what it's like to not feel grounded, to be part of a family displaced and scattered around the world where finding out about our past is like pulling teeth and entails literally waking the dead. The last three generations of my maternal ancestors were born and died in different countries. The same applies to at least the last two generations on my father's side, and that line originated in a completely different place and travelled a completely different path to South Africa where I was born, and hence I also know what it's like to live in a society where confronting the concept of race and all the baggage that goes with it on a daily basis is unavoidable. I was therefore very excited to discover a new book talking to this subject.

In Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina, Cepeda explores her Dominican American identity via family interviews, travel and genetic genealogy. The book challenged my perception of what it means to be American, showing how people with indigenous ancestry are treated as outsiders and how such social prejudices do damage from the outside as well as the inside of "multiple race" families. Some incidents detailed in the book are hard to comprehend. I am inspired by the knowledge that this journey, repairing some broken links to the author's roots, has brought her family some peace.

Cepeda managed, with some realistic difficulty, to obtain DNA samples representing quite a few of her ancestral lines for mitochondrial DNA and Y-DNA testing. I can appreciate how rewarding it must have been for her to finally be able to ground herself with confirmed roots in America, Africa and Europe. However, I was disappointed that the book does not mention autosomal DNA inherited from all ancestral lines, except for a Family Tree DNA FAQ regarding their Population Finder tool which does not appear to be part of the testing done by Cepeda. The direct maternal (mitochondrial) and direct paternal (Y-DNA) ancestral lines only represent a tiny fraction of one's ancestry and may reflect little to none of one's autosomal DNA as illustrated by the recent "revelation" that Prince William has Indian ancestry. While autosomal DNA testing is relatively new and the geographical analyses of this data are constantly being refined, a person "of multiple races" is an ideal candidate for such analyses as it is relatively easy to separate autosomal DNA inherited from different continents. Autosomal DNA testing is also better than nothing (other than mitochondrial DNA testing, and Y-DNA testing if one is male) for people like me with family members who opt not to spit.

The Juggler's Children (book review)

Abraham, Carolyn (March 26, 2013). The Juggler's Children: A Journey into Family, Legend and the Genes that Bind Us. Published by Random House Canada. 400 pages. ISBN 978-0679314592.
From the publisher's book description: "Abraham investigates whether this burgeoning new science can help solve 2 mysteries that have haunted her multi-racial family for more than a century"

The Juggler's Children is about the Canadian author's "dance between DNA and documentary evidence, science and paper" as she sets out to uncover the mysterious origins of two of her great-grandfathers, one of whom she inherited her surname from ("the juggler"). At the beginning of the book there are two family tree charts, one for the descendants of each of these great-grandfathers who married and fathered children in India but originally came from somewhere else (China and Jamaica, probably). In hindsight I should have drawn another family tree chart for the Crooks family in Jamaica as I read what her research uncovered there, as it was not so easy keeping up with the Crookses, but I was in too much of a hurry to find out what happened next. I guess it could not have been included in the book without giving too much of the story away.

Even though my 100% European ancestry is not nearly as interesting as the author's, I can identify with so much of what she wrote having similar family mysteries of my own to solve. Regardless, I am a sucker for a good detective story. I also learnt some history, geography and science in the process.

The book would also be a good primer for a "genetic virgin". It discusses genetic genealogy in layman's terms and illustrates the various pitfalls of genetic testing and analysis via the author's personal story. Her experiences demonstrate the limitations of both science and paper, and hence the value of using both to corroborate each other. Abraham is a science writer and wove various milestones in genetics and genetic genealogy into her story. However, science has already progressed somewhat since the Abraham family undertook genetic testing. There is now greater emphasis on testing autosomal DNA inherited from both parents and the costs have dropped substantially. Pioneers of genetic genealogy are impatient, and this book gives us some perspective in that regard.

The writing style is well balanced, not too dry given the scientific subject and not overly verbose. The book contains plenty of humour, puns, metaphors and phrases that made me smile such as "typos" regarding mutations, "kiss and tell" regarding the Y chromosome and "old boys' club" regarding Y haplogroups (not having my own Y, I can really identify with that one).

The Juggler's Children is currently available in Canada.

See also: The Agenda with Steve Paikin: Interview with Carolyn Abraham on YouTube