It's All Relative: Adventures Up And Down The World's Family Tree

  • Author: A. J. Jacobs
  • Narrator: A. J. Jacobs
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Duration: 8:03:22
preview

Synopsis

#1 New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs undergoes a hilarious, poignant quest to understand what constitutes family—where it begins and how far it goes—in It’s All Relative, a “thought-provoking…delightful, easy-to-read, informative book” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

A.J. Jacobs has received some strange emails over the years, but this note was perhaps the strangest: “You don’t know me, but I’m your eighth cousin. And we have over 80,000 relatives of yours in our database.”

That’s enough family members to fill Madison Square Garden four times over. Who are these people, A.J. wondered, and how do I find them? So began Jacobs’s three-year adventure to help build the biggest family tree in history. In It’s All Relative, he “muses on the nature of family and the interconnectedness of humanity in this entertaining introduction to the world of genealogy” (Publishers Weekly).

Jacobs’s journey would take him to all seven continents. He drank beer with a US president, sung with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and unearthed genetic links to Hollywood actresses and real-life scoundrels. After all, we can choose our friends, but not our family.

“Whether he’s posing as a celebrity, outsourcing his chores, or adhering strictly to the Bible, we love reading about the wacky lifestyle experiments of author A.J. Jacobs” (Entertainment Weekly). Now Jacobs upends, in ways both meaningful and hilarious, our understanding of genetics and genealogy, tradition and tribalism, identity and connection. “Whimsical but also full of solid journalism and eye-opening revelations about the history of humanity, It’s All Relative is a real treat” (Booklist, starred review).

Chapters

  • ItsAllRelative 21 Ch18

    Duration: 09min
  • ItsAllRelative 22 Ch19

    Duration: 13min
  • ItsAllRelative 23 Ch20

    Duration: 15min
  • ItsAllRelative 24 Ch21

    Duration: 10min
  • ItsAllRelative 25 Ch22

    Duration: 12min
  • ItsAllRelative 26 Ch23

    Duration: 09min
  • ItsAllRelative 27 Ch24

    Duration: 10min
  • ItsAllRelative 28 Ch25

    Duration: 10min
  • ItsAllRelative 29 Ch26

    Duration: 13min
  • ItsAllRelative 30 Ch27

    Duration: 08min
  • ItsAllRelative 31 Ch28

    Duration: 07min
  • ItsAllRelative 32 Ch29

    Duration: 09min
  • ItsAllRelative 33 Ch30

    Duration: 07min
  • ItsAllRelative 34 Ch31

    Duration: 10min
  • ItsAllRelative 35 Ch32

    Duration: 10min
  • ItsAllRelative 36 Ch33

    Duration: 08min
  • ItsAllRelative 37 Ch34

    Duration: 07min
  • ItsAllRelative 38 Ch35

    Duration: 13min
  • ItsAllRelative 39 Ch36

    Duration: 06min
  • ItsAllRelative 40 Ch37

    Duration: 07min
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