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Adam's Curse – A Future Without Men, Bryan Sykes
Corgi
Reviewed by John Whelan (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

A future without men. Goodness. Leaving aside for the moment the vexed problem of the extinction of the entire human race, can you imagine the impact this will have on society? Who will mow the lawns? Change the oil in the car? Leave the toilet seat up?

According to Brian Sykes, this won't happen for at least another 125,000 years, so don't worry lads, plenty of time to get another round in and renew the Sky subscription.

This serious topic is treated seriously, as you would expect from a Professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford, though he tries very hard, and often succeeds, in making a complex topic approachable.

The trouble is that when he gets a bit excited he has the tendency to veer towards the white lab coat and thick glasses approach to science.

The research carried out by the good professor on DNA and the Y-chromosome is the basis for much of the book. His conclusion is that men are slowly headed for extinction as our Y-chromosomes are getting smaller and weaker. If this wasn't bad enough, he is extremely pessimistic about the survival of planet Earth because of the varied ways we are destroying it.

For someone with a casual interest in the subject it's a fascinating read, though at times a tad on the long side, and I found myself skimming some of the technical explanations.

Sykes' previous, well-validated book, The Seven Daughters of Eve, showed how Europeans are all descended from a distinct line of seven women, and for me the most interesting parts of his current work recounted his extensive research on tracing the hereditary lines such as his own family, the Vikings, Genghis Khan and the clan Macdonald.

Here, he would delve into the past using modern scientific tools to reveal the fascinating secrets each of us carries inside us to this day.