Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland

An essential reading book for DNA fanatics. You have to get them all though to get a proper picture including books from Stephen Oppenheimer and Spencer Wells, all are riviting reading. I read 5 at the same time Deep Ancestry by Wells is an must so that people can follow all the Haplogroups of the various humans and how they link up so amazingly and branch out. No matter how they travel away from one another sometimes they come back together at a later date, and some disappear altogether to emerge in a country far away. Remember the world looked different from what it does today with alot more land which is now 300 foot under the sea. The cold from the Ice Ages which came and went many times is another important factor and probably caused the deaths of thousands through tsunamis on the ocean and inland in America and Africa, India especially, and the Middle East and Europe. Long before the Saxons Celts and Vikings came to this country of the British Isles they had come before and they walked from Europeas they hunted in the North Sea area which was then land and also walked as far as to Ireland and then were driven back by the ice. This happened many times and caused many tragic deaths which show up in our geographical story. Cynthia Allen McLaglen

The DNA detective work is superb enabling a clear line of decent down the female line through mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome for men but I was disappointed that no real conclusions were reached about where these peoples came from.

Buyer beware - Amazon are still selling "Blood of the Isles" and"Saxons, Vikings and Celts". You could easily believe these are two different books, but the latter is merely the US published version of the first! Don't get caught out! I would recommend buying the UK version "Blood of the Isles" - at least the paper quality and pictures are better!

A fabulous book for anyone who is interested in his or her origins and of course of others. Bryan Sykes is a great communicator who is able to explain very technical points in a way that anyone with a good education can understand. He has a sense of humour which is sometimes missing in such books on such specialised subjects. I bought this book for myself, I was only half way through it when I ordered it for my son and he is fascinated by the information and we immediately bought every book by Bryan Sykes we could find.

If you are looking for some strong scientific info on the genetic make-up of the British Isles then do not buy this book. The scientific content accounts for approx 20% of the book, the rest is school boy history and geology. You only have to look at the index to see that the vast majority of entries are historical references with even 'DNA' only getting a bit part.I hadn't realised, until I read the other reviews, that this was an American version of a previously released book (Blood of the Isles) so I guess that explains why the author is so complimentatary to the Celts and so dismissive of the English. In fact is is somewhat bizarre that the English, who form over 80% of the UK's population take up less than a fifth of the book ( and if you add in RoI then the % is still above 70). Then again, perhaps it is because Sykes ran out of researchers before he could investigate England too thoroughly. Either way I felt a little gyped on the English sections, which given the variety of possible genetic strands in play one would have thought would be the a much larger part of the book. Who would have thought that the Welsh, Irish and and Scots were Celts after all?I'd also like to re-iterate what a previous reviewer has said. The paper qulaity is poor and the illustrations do indeed look like photocopies of the original. The up-side of this is that the cover is smooth and the book bends nicely whilst reading without creasing. A definate advantage with a book you are more likely to sell on than keep.This is a overall a disappointing book but if you like your science at the modern Horizon level (i.e 10 minutes of content constantly repeated in between reconstructions) rather than in detail then go for it. It is certainly well written and entertaining, just too dumbed down for my taste.

Excellent book for those who are interested in our own genetic roots . It inspired me to get my dna tested and trace my family’s background which tearned out to be 94% Germanic 6% Scandinavian ! = in other words Anglo Saxon!A must have for those interested in the different peoples of the British isles .

A Cambridge professor of genealogy explains the migration patterns of early inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland

This is obviously a very academic book and delves into the origins of our ancestors.I have always been interested in genetics