Claire Bradley is a Dublin-based genetic genealogist specialising in ancestry from Ireland
It’s #WorldBookDay so naturally I want to talk about two of my favourite things: genealogy and reading. This is necessarily a longer review than I normally favour because I’m so enthusiastic about the topic & there’s a lot to discuss. If you are at all interested in genetic genealogy, you will likely already know that…
It’s #SqueezeInARead day in Ireland, so I thought why not also post a book review. As a genetic genealogist, I’m fascinated by this new genre of DNA discovery memoir. From the opening lines of Inheritance by Dani Shapiro, we learn that she took a DNA test and discovered that the man who raised & loved…
It’s been a while since I did a book review so as we enter into the unmentionable season when people buy presents, I thought it was time. Nathan Dylan Goodwin has just released the eagerly-awaited second book in his investigative genetic genealogy mysteries. The Sawtooth Slayer picks up right after the Chester Creek Murders but…
This month’s book review might seem a little out of place on a genealogy blog, but I promise you it’s not. My Name is Philippa by Philippa Ryder is largely a book about family – modern family. Philippa is Transgender and this memoir is her story of becoming the woman she wanted to be from…
The Presidents’ Letters by Flor MacCarthy is a work of history, social history, a history of letter writing in Ireland and an all-round excellent read. It’s a book you dip into rather than read straight through. The premise is simple, she found that no one had ever collated a book of letters written to or…
This week’s review is one you may not have heard of it. Joseph Byrne’s Dictionary of Irish Local History is not a new publication – it came out in 2004. This is a fantastic reference book. It may not be something you pick up every day, but when you do, you find the rabbit hole…
Nathan Dylan Goodwin is a well-established author in the wide field of genealogy crime novels. I’ll cover some of his other novels at a later date. The Chester Creek Murders was a new departure for him as it forayed into the investigative genetic genealogy field combined with policing, as a US police detective hires a…
I had watched Julia Creet’s documentary Datamining the Deceased: Ancestry & the business of family last year and found it interesting. Her book The Genealogical Sublime expands the topic into chapters focusing on (amongst others) Ancestry, the Mormons, genetic genealogy, and the debate around ethnicity and what that means for minority groups like Native Americans.…
Today is the start of a new series on my blog where I review new and old books of relevance for Irish genealogy. No one has asked me to do this nor have I received any payment or free books for this content. If that changes, I will mention it in future reviews. Chris Paton’s…
Tracing your Ancestors using DNA: a guide for Family Historians is published by Pen & Sword and edited by Graham S. Holton, with contributions from John Cleary, Michelle Leonard, Iain McDonald & Alasdair F. MacDonald. Having previously read Blaine Bettinger’s book on the same subject as a beginner a few years ago, I was ready…