AUDIO

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

by A.J. Jacobs
7 CDs. 8 hrs. S. & S. Audio. Nov. 2017. ISBN 9781442376069. $29.99. digital download. SOC SCI
COPY ISBN
The tree provides a perfect analogy for an adventure in genealogy. With its many roots, twisting branches, and enumerable leaves, a family tree offers the intrepid genealogist researching his or her ancestors inevitable challenges and surprises. This is Jacobs's (The Year of Living Biblically) account of his own attempts to discover his hereditary foundation. The story is filled with ample doses of self-deprecating humor and delightful and often comical observations about the practice of genealogy. His ruminations on the nature of family and the ways we are all connected are on occasion profound. The book is read by the author in an easygoing style.
VERDICT If genealogical research can be described as an adventure, then Jacobs should be commended for conveying something of the wonder and joy that those who practice the discipline experience. ["Fans of Jacobs's previous work, as well as anyone interested in a nonacademic look into the world of genealogy and family trees, will find this account engrossing, funny, and optimistic": LJ 10/15/17 review of the S. & S. hc.]
Reviewed by Denis Frias, Mississauga Lib. Syst., Ont. , Feb 01, 2018
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