24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Title totally misrepresents the content of book., Jan 8 2005
By Bridget K. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Interpret Family History and Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners: The Geography and History of Your Relatives (Paperback)
This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever attempted to read. I purchased the book because I recently started a DNA surname study and was looking for tips on how to present and interpret the results. The title of this book gave me the impression that it would cover information I could apply to my study.I was slightly concerned because I couldn't find any reviews and the book wasn't cheap, but it looked like it would supplement the other DNA in Genealogy book I purchased.
The book does not actually address the subject of the title. It does contain disorganized, repetitive references to the author's own genealogical studies. It contains numerous copies of e-mails sent by or to the author from authorities in various fields of genealogy or DNA studies. It contains dozens of website addresses relating to the topics she covers (not the topic in the title, though.)
Several chapters of the book deal with pharmacogenetics - apparently the study of drug reactions. How does this relate to the title?
One chapter is titled "Menopause and beyond alternative resources and information online" Again, how does this relate to the title?
Another chapter is titled " How to safely tailor your foods, medicines and cosmetics to your genes" What does this have to do with Interpreting Family History & Ancestry DNA Test Results? (whether for beginners or not.)
The impression I get from this book is that the author took every piece of family history, DNA information, or anything related to genes that she knew and tossed it into one 646 page book. (I guess it would be hard to charge this much for a 10 page book, which might be all that really addresses the subject of the title of this book.)
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great title - but worthless garbage, Sep 11 2006
By Eileen Chester - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Interpret Family History and Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners: The Geography and History of Your Relatives (Paperback)
I bought this because the title promised a lot. I was stunned when I tried to read it. It is an amateurish rehash of published information, completely disorganized, horribly written, and full of typos and grammatical errors. Chapter One starts with a few incoherent paragraphs, then laboriously traces the author's husband's ancestry to the Massachusetts Bay colony. I was waiting for the DNA connection to her genealogy discussion, but instead, in the next sentence, she launched into a messy discussion of DNA studies of Ashkenazy Jews! There followed many more chapters of similarly disorganized garbage! The index was a mockery of what an index should be, not that an index would have been helpful here anyway.
I could not that believe something this awful could find a publisher, until I realized that it was apparently self-published by the author. The author calls herself a "journalist." Her real talent is in writing enticing titles, self-publishing useless books, and suckering in people like me.
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to interpret famly history ancestry DNA test results for beginers..., May 31 2009
By Joan Peck - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Interpret Family History and Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners: The Geography and History of Your Relatives (Paperback)
This book is very informative. It answers many of the questions a researcher has in the beginning of the DNA testing about the results and where they go. It is written in clear understandable language.