Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David ReichMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Basically it turns out that Out of Africa was a gross oversimplification. We came out, in various waves, some went back in, many died out after coming out, we came out at least twice and confronted Neanderthals. Then we spread around, the Denisovans were pretty big, but died out, but there's still some of their DNA going around. Same with Neanderthals. Plenty of ghost populations (populations we know must have existed due to DNA, but with no traces). Also within Africa there was a ton of movement, and plenty of people who were out of Africa returned to Africa, many times way back down to South Africa. The migration into America is no less complicated, with plenty of movement over many waves, including at least one major one back to Siberia. And all of these are quite recent discoveries, with much more analysis going on now in Asia, and plenty to come in Africa and elsewhere, so this will probably be hopelessly out of date by the time I finish writing this review.
Re: the Denisovans, I'm wondering if they represent the first Indigenous Taiwanese, since these then spread throughout the Pacific in more or less the same regions we find Denisovan DNA. Although, again, it's all a hodgepodge.
The book ends with a caveat re: classifying people into races, but also NOT classifying them into races, which is well-rounded and probably needed.
If you're interested in language families this book also has plenty of material.
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