It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree

A.J. Jacobs, the humorist, has set his sights on my DNA, and he's written a book all about ME, his long-lost cousin, and about his efforts to track me down. I find this to be very flattering -- I'll read any book that's about me!Of course, the book is not about me per se. It's about Jacobs' efforts to learn more about his family tree, from both the paper trail (historical records and newspaper accounts) and from DNA evidence. His interest is in assembling a "World Family Tree". learning literally how everyone alive is related to everyone else alive.As a humorist, Jacobs has not written a scholarly book. Rather, it's a collection of several dozen short mini-essays, each on different topics of genealogy. Intertwined are little sidebars about a "Global Family Reunion" which Jacobs attempts to stage in Queens, New York. Even this is funny, because he tries to get the 1970s band Sister Sledge to perform their signature tune, "We Are Family", at his reunion --- only to learn that some of the Sledge Sisters are not even talking to each other. How messed up is that?Along the way, we learn about celebrity ancestors, "black sheep" ancestors, immigration into the US (Jacobs, like me, is a second- or third-generation American descendant of Jewish immigrants into New York City), ancestry and DNA websites, the relative merits of nuclear families and blended families, and how we're all connected ("As my grandfather's niece's husband's sixth cousin Hillary Clinton says..."). My favorite parts of the book actually relate to pre- and proto-human ancestry. Were you aware that homo sapiens and yeast share 18% of our respective DNA? This means that, going back waaay back when, humans and yeast have the same common ancestor. Jacobs doesn't tell us to avoid eating bread because that involves cannibalism, but ...Jacobs has a lot of fun spending his author's advance, and so a good chunk of "It's All Relative" involves him traveling -- to West Virginia, to visit the world's then-largest family reunion; to the aptly named Twinsburg, Ohio, to visit a reunion specializing in twins; and to Salt Lake City, to visit the Mormons' formidably comprehensive Mormon Research Library (which I visited in 2008 and to which I owe much of my current knowledge of my own family tree). You will benefit from his travels. Although not a scholarly book -- as I said, it's a broad range of superficial essays -- I learned a lot of things I did not know before, like about how Jewish surnames came into being. Jacobs also explodes the myth that names got changed on Ellis Island, which certainly changes a lot of my beliefs about my own family surnames...In short, "It's All Relative" is a great starter pack for your own family tree research project. In spite of my similarities with the author, we are not closely related that I can tell, so, in the end, I am not mentioned anywhere in the book. But it's still informative and funny, and worth the read.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn upon reading this book that I was the writer's cousin. But then, anyone reading this review is his cousin as well. That's the basic premise of his new book -- that if we follow our ancestors up our own family trees at some time we will find that we are all cousins, however distant. From this insight Jacobs decides to organize the world's largest family reunion - a Global Family Reunion - and the book follows a 51 week countdown until that takes place - in New York, Peru, New Zealand and other locales. During the year of planning AJ finds inspiration attending the reunion in Flat Top, West Virginia of the family that has held the existing reunion attendance record, the annual twins reunions in Twinsburg, Ohio and even a reunion of current families of the legendary feuders, the Hatfields and McCoys. And in the process we learn about the writer's celebrity cousins, his black sheep ancestors, genealogy, the difference between polygamy and polyamory and the often unintended consequences of DNA test results. Fans of Jacobs, a long-time humor writer for Esquire, will recall his three earlier best selling books in which he describes his "humble quests" - to improve his mind, his spirituality and his health. Once again AJ's wife Julie and his three sons are there to cheerfully bear witnesses to his eccentricities and we again appreciate the bittersweet reverence he feels for his deceased grandparents, some of whom he wistfully wishes he had know better. There is a lot of wisdom among the book's wit, all of which makes for a most enjoyable read and a perfect gift for your own cousins during this upcoming holiday season.

When I see a book by A.J. Jacobs for sale I buy it immediately, Whether he's writing about the Bible, living healthily, or even reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, he's always amusing and informative at the same time. I've never met him, but he's one of my favorite people.It's All Relative has additional charms for me in that it deals with one of my most passionate hobbies, genealogy. Jacobs tells the story of his growing interest in tracing his own ancestry and his involvement with the online World Family Tree. His fascination with the tentacled layers of his and his long suffering wife Julie's genealogies led him to plan what he hoped would be the world's largest family reunion, bringing together thousands of people from far and wide who happen to share a few genes with each other and with A.J. himself.As is customary with one of Jacobs' books, there's some good solid information and advice to be found within It's All Relative about getting started tracing your own ancestry and especially about one of the newest branches of genealogical research: DNA analysis. I had a good time reading It's All Relative and learned a few things as well. Since A.J. is Ashkenazi Jewish and I'm primarily British we probably don't have many genes in common, but nevertheless I regard him as a close relation in spirit regardless of what our DNA might reveal.

Good present for those into family history

A good fun read for genealogist!

A real fun read but with lots of information and thought provoking questions, too. There is only one human animal and we are just variations on a theme with nothing exceptional about us at all. Totally debunks the fake news of there being a white race. There can`t be when we are all cousins out of Africa at some point. I enjoy doing my family tree for fun not to try and find some ancestor that I can brag about although it might be nice if I did find one just for interest sake you understand.

Bought for my dad who loves genealogy (and I love the author). Came in great shape and he was excited to read.

Nice mix of humour, thoughtfulness and knowledge.