I saw references to Christine Kenneally's "The Invisible History of the Human Race" that praised the book. We have had our DNA analyzed by the Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society. I read Brian Syke's "The Seven Sisters of Eve" and I recommend it for some perspective on the migration of humans from central Africa to all parts of the globe over the last 150,000 years or so. When I saw Kenneally's book, I thought it might be a good addition to my understanding of how we got where we are.
It turns out to be a book about genealogy, the study of one's ancestors. I am confident that as I get further into the book, the business of DNA will emerge but so far it is just about records of who married whom and how many children they had. Kenneally explains that family charts often seem innocuous or even boring, that they often seem to be motivated solely by the desire to find that a person had impressive forebearers. However, in the late 1800's and on, various people got hold of the idea that some humans were more or less genetic trash who should not contribute to the human race. You know where that idea can lead: extermination of the 'wrong' people. When the 'wrong' people have babies, the resulting 'wrong' children can be mistreated in truly horrible ways. Reading about it put me in a very down mood.
Things can also be quite nasty for you if you are part of the opposite group, not genetic trash but genetic treasure. You are enjoined, "encouraged" for the good of all, to have as many babies as possible, whether you want to or not. Since we don't really know who is better and who is worse (how could we if we don't know what is happening or going to happen), things get murky. When humans get confused, they often redouble their efforts, seemingly in the belief that trying harder will eventually straighten things out. The production of children of the right sort may involve rape, desertion of children and warehousing of children, which of course results in rotten parenting of children or actual mistreatment of them.
Lynn advised taking a break from the book so I switched to "The Trauma of Everyday Life" by Dr. Mark Epstein. There I read the lovely hypothesis that part of the reason meditation does such great things for the mind is that meditating holds the mind in a sort of loving, steady acceptance that duplicates what a loving and skillful mother does for a child. So, bingo! Those suffering souls who for whatever reason were deprived of a good mother's love can give themselves love, warmth and nurturance through meditation. It is a wonderful idea.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
