| Title | : | Go Ask Your Father: One Man's Obsession with Finding His Origins Through DNA Testing |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0553805517 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780553805512 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2009 |
Shortly before his father’s death, Lennard Davis received a cryptic call from his uncle Abie, who said he had a secret he wanted to tell him one day. When finally revealed, the secret–that Abie himself was Davis’s father, via donor insemination–seemed too preposterous to be true. Born in 1949, Davis wasn’t even sure that artificial insemination had existed at that time. Moreover, his uncle was mentally unstable, an unreliable witness to the past. Davis tried to erase the whole episode from his mind.
Yet it wouldn’t disappear. As a child, Davis had always felt oddly out of place in his family. Could Abie’s story explain why? Over time Davis’s doubts grew into an obsession, until finally, some twenty years after Abie’s phone call, he launched an investigation–one that took him to DNA labs and online genealogical research sites, and into intense conversations with family members whose connection to him he had begun to doubt.
At once an absorbing personal journey and a fascinating intellectual foray into the little-known history of artificial insemination and our millennia-long attempt to understand the mysteries of sexual reproduction, Davis’s quest challenges us to ask who we are beyond a mere collection of genes. And as the possibility of finding the truth comes tantalizingly within reach, with Davis facing the agonizing possibility of having to reenvision his early years and his relationships with those closest to him, his search turns into a moving meditation on the nature of family bonds, as well as a new understanding of the significance of the swarms of chemicals that are the blueprints for our very human selves.
From the Hardcover edition.
Go Ask Your Father: One Man's Obsession with Finding His Origins Through DNA Testing Reviews
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Pretty good overall. I think I was expecting a bit more suspense and not so much historical information about donor insemination. I mean, it was great to learn about a topic I knew little of, but this author had a thing for including dates and people’s names for every little step forward in the science. His explanations for the genetics behind DNA testing were passable but pretty rudimentary. I could definitely tell that he’s a professor in the humanities because he referred to many authors/works I was not familiar with.
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A little out of date in terms of the technology, but still spot on in terms of the emotional reality.
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(before reading)
I got this book online after hearing the author being interviewed on NPR. I've only read the introduction, but I'm already really excited. It's the truth about his origins, as a boy who was raised to believe he was born of his mother and father but in truth, he was inseminated. This was right when the process was first beginning... I'm so excited to read it!
It seems like it will be a really compelling, interesting, dynamic real-life story. The author's cute, too! :) haha...
(after reading)
I loved this book! I read it in two days because it was so good (and admittedly only 2 or 3 hundred pages) and I was really fascinated by his discussions of identity as associated with DNA versus upbringing, and the fact that his story is PERSONAL and "true" in the self-reflection sense. Though I recalled much of the information about DNA (and RNA, genes, alleles, etc) from studying it in school, I was mesmerized by his personal search to know who his father was and his experiences along the way.
I really recommend it! :) -
I first heard about this book on the This American Life podcast. I passed the book by chance at the library and decided to read it. The suspense was largely missing since I knew how the story turned out from the podcast. I did learn quite a bit about the history of artificial insemination and that was definitely fascinating. Overall the book was interesting. My one complaint was that at times the narrative became too medical and scientific. I understand that some explanation may have been necessary, but at times I felt I had somehow stumbled into a textbook and was no longer reading a narrative story. Although, if I must admit the truth - the nerd in me kind likes textbooks (just not sneak attack textbooks).
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This was OK, despite a draggy section in the middle when the author spends waaaaaaaaaay too much time on the finer points of DNA testing. The life of the story is in what that unanswered question about his ancestry does to this guy's sense of himself. Worth the read, overall.
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Interesting family story. Pretty detailed on DNA and how different kinds of testing work.
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I prefer the memoir parts to the scientific parts but by the end I was just ready to be done.
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I wanted more memoir, less science, but that's just how I roll!
(read: 67) -
A family secret. Who is his real father? Much more here about DNA and genetics than I wanted to read.
