How to Interpret Your DNA Test Results for Family History [Paperback]

Instead, one finds the author quoting from her correspondence with scientists about her own DNA test results. Most of the 'debate that unfolds' involves disagreements among those scientists about the meanings of her results.

I was particularly disappointed at how much wasted space there is in the book. Some 50 pages, for example, for a glossary of genetic terms reprinted from a US government agency paper, and 6 pages advertising the author's other (completely unrelated) books.

All of that is not to say that no one will find this book of use. Readers who approach it with the understanding that it was written by a layperson with no special training in genetics, who wrote it as an extension of a hobby, may be less disappointed than I was. But I would advise the prospective buyer to have a look at a copy at the library or a bookstore before making a purchase.

The author mentions this in the book, volunteering to help in battered women's shelters, in places where women like her, in their sixties and beyond, find reading independently in the sciences opens the floodgates of learning and sharing with others views on her beloved subjects--genealogy, nutrition, and reading about a variety of metabolic responses to nutrition, the study of ancestry and how archaeology and genetics interact. Grandma's goal was to inspire scientists to share information with one another in fields that normally don't communicate as often as they should.

Because grandma dared to write books based on her lifelong friendships, conversations, correspondences, and interviews with a wide variety of geneticists, scientists, family historians, and physicians, she has been literally put down for not having any credentials. Well, she does have an excellent community college teaching credential in language arts and literature, but, just by talking to scientists or writing to them and asking whether they would be interested in allowing her to compile their expertise into a book, has met with as you see, mixed reactions.

Just for behaving as a journalist has been called a no-no just because she is a woman with multiple physical disabilities, but a mind that yearns to read and inspire scientists to share with one another knowledge. You see, scientists don't share enough, and this book meant for the general consumer, opens the door to the resources for which the reader can then contact more experts in the various fields covered. That's why I loved this book. It dared to take a white haired lady with little mobility and a background of being a loving grandma to eight, and a person who has shared full-time volunteerism for a lifetime, and allow her to read in the sciences independently and then interview people to gain more expertise for the book, of which all material has been approved with blessings from those who volunteered in turn to share their knowledge. We are thankful to all.

Interestingly, my mom notes that in the seventies when Elaine Morgan wrote "Descent of Woman," she was called "just a housewife" by the scientists and her views on anthropology was rejected for more than 30 years until scientists finally invited her to a professional conference in South Africa to present her views on her anthropological theories. Times haven't changed. Here we have another similar woman on the mommy track, grandma, who for her love of reading anthropology and genetics books, also dared to write a book, and what do you get? The same type of reactions from people saying, go read a book written by scientists, not by my grandma who "spends her time crocheting blankets for the homeless" at senior centers.

When are we going to learn that it's perfectly okay to be a woman, over 60-something, with disabilities of vision and hearing, and still, like Hellen Keller, write a book on a beloved subject.

What would you recommend women like this do instead? Wouldn't you rather have a warm, fuzzy book where the author puts in a bit of her life history to share the human-ness of it all, in the book along with DNA expertise and genealogy resources? Or would you rather stick to the books written by men with degrees without the warm, woman's touch? Why must science be so utterly cold? Why can't it be warm and friendly like grandma? She's written other, much thicker in size books on DNA, genealogy, and nutrition also.

So I'd like to ask you to look at her last book--Find Your Personal Adam& Eve. The ISBN number is 0-595-30633-0. And thank you to the scientists who were willing to share and approve their information and their expertise with my grandma.

This perhaps will open doors so scientists will share information with one another. You see, the race for government funding often prevents scientists from sharing and communicating with one another as often as the consumer would like. Thank you for listening to a college student.