We have had our DNA analyzed by the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project and by 23andMe. I have found it very interesting but I may not think about it typically. I think some people think of relatives and wonder if they have kings or nobles in the family tree. Sometimes, DNA can seem frightening since it might show that your real parents are unknown and you were adopted secretly.
It can be shocking to realize that earthly life is all related so that is why I sometimes say I am descended from blue-green algae and cockroaches. If that turns out to be utterly wrong, I will take refuge in what I can remember of the official analysis results. They didn't contain anything special or upsetting. Northern-ish ancestors who emerged from Africa, slowly journeyed around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, made their way west to the Atlantic coast, traveled north up to what is now Norway, came down along the same coast, leaving people in the British Isles, Ireland and Spain.
I have been more interested in the overall directions and groups than in whether I am descended from Genghis Khan. I read
The Seven Daughters of Eve - Sykes
The 10,000 Year Explosion - Cochran and Harpending
She Has Her Mother's Smile - Zimmer
The Invisible History of the Human Race - Kenneally
People's natural assumptions about biology are sometimes far off. I read a sobering article a while back by a Native American woman pointing out that the understanding that Americans had of genetics caused them to create rules for tribal membership and benefits that assumed a mother and a father contribute half of the genes each. That assumption means that she needs to be cautious of marrying if she wants her children to be tribal members since the fraction gets halved over and over and she and her guy might produce a child who doesn't qualify for membership.
Many other problems and puzzles have emerged over the idea of inheritance. It has been natural for humans to assume that if I am good at reading, my children will be, too. Maybe and maybe not. Skills, training and abilities are tricky.
