Who We Are and How We Got Here – This will be one of my favorite books I’ll read this year. David Reich’s Who We Are and How We Got Here details the still nascent field of ancient DNA analysis, how it is upending the existing scientific hierarchy, and how ancient DNA is retelling the story of human evolution on planet Earth. Before this period, we had to rely on anthropology, archeology, philology, and older science, like carbon dating, to triangulate knowledge about human prehistory. Now, thanks to cheaper DNA sequencing technology and new methods of comparative analysis, scientists can gather a bone segment from central Eurasia and quickly know, with near absolute precision, which historic population of humans that sample is from, where that population came from and which populations were near them. The major revelations are twofold; first, pre-historic human populations have been moving around the globe almost continuously since the hypothetical (now in question!) “Out of Africa” theory; and second, these human populations have been mixing with each other for just as long. The implications here are massive. For example, you will learn repeatedly that Earth’s current racial demography is a relatively recent state of affairs and there have been numerous races before. The book details only 30 known human population mixture events, of which there are more still yet to be discovered; these events represent mixtures of populations more genetically disparate than modern Europeans are to modern Asians. There is a steep learning curve to this book, but Reich makes the cutting edge technology understandable for a layperson (read: me) while layering in a moral optimism to the findings. One cannot come away from this information without a profound sense of connection to our species’ shared history.
The Nasher Sculpture Center – A few unsurprising thematic clusters of permanent collection classics comprised the main exhibit on this visit, but the experience was still rich due to Renzo Piano’s wonderful design for the building. His penchant for overhead natural light in gallery spaces is still underrated, and the building’s comb-like structure up’s that ante with glass walls on north and south ends. The joys of that building were then tempered by the sculpture garden which I found a bit generic now that we live in an age where every modern art museum does more or less the same thing here.
The Crow Collection – Only the ground floor was available, but even with one floor and only two micro-exhibits, The Crow Collection is a gem for the city of Dallas. The first exhibit detailed a full set of Japanese samurai armor piece by piece. The armor was arranged on a mannequin in the center of the room allowing for a 360 degree analysis of the many pieces and ornaments. The second exhibit was a brief survey on the history of Korean ceramics. . . which was pretty fantastic luck because Korean ceramics happen to be my favorite ceramics in nearly every way: their colors, their glazes, and most of all, their shapes. The works were arranged by time period and paired with contemporary Korean ceramics for some interesting contrasts. I am always astounded by how distinct, elegant and sophisticated these works are from this tiny peninsula. My suspicion is that the extreme pressures of being sandwiched between the massive, ubiquitous cultures from China and Japan made such creativity possible and necessary.
Partial Review 