Journey of Man (2003)

You look familiar

This video lets you see the faces behind the science. Although you will see an awful lot of handsome and personable Dr. Wells, you also get introduced to the individuals who have donated their blood to give us a idea of how we're all related. The science reminds you of how resilient and inventive each of us must be if we come from stock who were able to survive such an epic journey around the globe. November 27, 2008

excellent place to begin a year of social studies or world history

If I had thought of it, I would have begun our homeschool study of Asia and Africa with this. It's a remarkable production that stands at the intersection of social studies and life science. Using DNA, scientists have been able to trace human migrations out of Africa to the rest of the world. Dr. Wells, the narrator and one of the geneticists working in the area, tells the astonishing story simply and very engagingly. And he tells it as he takes us with him on a journey retracing the steps of these migrations. Very highly recommended. November 24, 2008

A well narrated secret

How to explain a scientific issue in ordinary words and do it in a very inspiring way?

You should enjoy the company of this documentary. Is something you will tell your kids about. November 6, 2008

Informative

Extremely interesting, educational and informative. Learned a lot, and had a lot of questions answered. April 25, 2008

Color Me Skeptical

I've just seen this video on Maryland Public Television. It's very good.

However, I have reservations about the certainty with which Dr. Wells approaches his subject, and most particularly the sermonizing at the end about how "we are all one." This is Barack Obama territory; Scientists should stick to science, IMHO.

Leslie Marmon Silko, in her book, "The Almanac of The Dead," strongly objects to the western scientific view that all Native Americans came from a few hardy souls who crossed the Bering Sea during the last ice age. So, apparently, do the Navajo, who politely told Dr. Wells in the video that their founding myth says they emerged from the earth right there in Arizona. In the video, Dr. Wells blithely dismisses their myth as unscientific, and therefore not worth considering. He offered photos to prove it. To me, this revealing episode smacked of nothing less than the same old white man's imperialism, in its self-evident superiority sweeping away all resistance before it.

It may well be that Dr. Wells' and his colleagues' theory about the origin and then spread of mankind is dead on and therefore the case is closed. Based on 3,000 or so blood samples from 2 billion potential donors, and assuming 100% accuracy of the lab results (hope the FBI's lab wasn't involved!). Talk about bold! Nevertheless, I would be willing to bet the ranch that in 50 years this DNA-based theory will have been superceded--or perhaps complemented is a better word--by other discoveries and that Dr. Wells' will not be the accepted scientific wisdom. After all, that's how science works--someone posits a theory, and offers proof, and that theory lasts until someone comes along with another one, and so on. I would have been happier if in the video (the book may be more nuanced) Dr. Wells had admitted that he was offering a theory only, not the definitive view of human life's origins.

One of the least credible portions of the video was the effort of the scientific lady who struggled to explain how northern Europeans gained their appearance (in a mere geologic blink)--as fair skinned and ended up looking like--well, like Dr. Wells. In sum, I thank Dr. Wells for his efforts, which were not small, but color me skeptical about swallowing whole the story he put together. February 24, 2008

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