Book review - Genes, Peoples and Languages (Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza)

Picked this out of the local library because it was a standing up book with an interesting title, and finally compelled myself to read it. Although I got off to a shaky start because some arse-burger had written comments of dubious worth in the margins, I actually really enjoyed it - found it quite engaging and understandable. There seemed to be quite a lot more genetics than languages, but they were excellently covered, and there were some interesting bits on cultural transmission. Fell apart a bit at the end when the author tried to do that finishing-chapter-moral-rhetoric-scientist thing, but that's ok. My favourite bit was a substantial chunk in the middle on technological revolutions and genetic geography. I spent a while working with Principal Components Analysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_component_analysis) at one point, so relating principal components to geological movement of genes was really interesting to me. I don't think it would be off-putting to other people, but it was the principal chunk of the book, sandwiched between some interesting genetic and cultural transmission theory.