Wednesday, November 8, 2017

A.J. Jacobs "It's all Relative" Book Notice

I received this from my cousin A.J. Jacobs via email today:

===================================================

Hello Friends, Colleagues and Family (though everyone fits into that third category, as you’ll see),

I wanted to let you know that my new book It’s All Relative comes out today! And I also wanted to give you a little something for free just because you’re my distant-but-beloved cousin.


Let me say, I’m absurdly excited to have this book out in the world so that you can finally read it.
So far, the reviews have been delightfully flattering, such as….

“A real treat” (Booklist), “delightful” (Kirkus Reviews), “required reading” (Real Simple), “fascinating and funny” (CBS News), “entertaining… and lively” (Publishers Weekly), “the most original and entertaining book you’ll ever read about family” (bestselling author Mary Roach) and “why is Zane listed first in the acknowledgments?” (Lucas Jacobs, my 11-year-old son.)

The book is partly a memoir about my eccentric family. It’s also partly about the revolutions in DNA and family trees and the huge effect they’re having on politics, race relations and happiness. And it’s partly an adventure in which I try to put on the biggest family reunion in history, The Global Family Reunion. Because, as the book demonstrates, we’re all related. We are all cousins. Family is the ultimate social network.

It’s All Relative features black sheep, celebrity cousins (Daniel Radcliffe! John Legend!), separated-at-birth twins, genealogy obsessives, plenty of Mormons, a family with nine fathers, an African-American daughter of the revolution, the real Adam and Eve, kissing cousins and friendly Neanderthals, among much more.

It’s also a heartfelt argument against tribalism, which I believe is the biggest problem facing the world today. This idea of “us vs. them” is killing us. We need to remember that we share 99.9 percent of our DNA with all other humans. A Harvard study from last year showed that Israelis and Palestinians treated each other with more kindness when they were shown how closely they were related.

My website has a list of other press, including a People magazine feature that ran this week on me. And the image below is a link to a CBS This Morning piece where you can see me (and also my kids in the background enjoying green room croissants).


Here are some ways to support the book, if you’re moved.

You can buy it! Right now!

You can leave a review on the book page on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever else you like to share and talk about books.

There’s also Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in case you forgot they existed. People enjoy photos of other people holding books!

And now for the free part:

The book features an Appendix that gives you a How-To Guide to finding the best info about your own family. I’m offering this appendix to you now for free, in case you’re interested. It’s co-written by professional genealogist Eowyn Langholf. No obligation!

Click here to download the How-To Guide.

Thank you.
Your cousin, A.J.

==============================================

Disclosure:  I received a pre-publication digital version of this book and am in the process of reading it.  It is funny!!!  A.J. is my cousin also, see Cousins, Kinship, AJ Jacobs and King David (we are 92nd cousins, 23 times removed!  Who knew?).  A.J. proclaimed us "cousins" at RootsTech 2015 (and I still have the poster):



Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

No comments: