Ludovic Orlando Horses review, recensie en informatie boek over en de 4000 jaar durende genetische reis door de wereld van het paarden. Op 9 september 2025 verschijnt bij Princeton University Press de Engelse vertaling van La Conquête du cheval: Une histoire génétique, het boek van Ludovic Orlando  de uit Frankrijk afkomstige moleculair bioloog. Er is heen Nederlandse vertaling van het boek verkrijgbaar.

Ludovic Orlando Horses review en recensie

• “This is a breathtaking book from the geneticist who decoded the horse’s ancient secrets. It is a modern tale of serendipity, power, and relentless spirit.” (Christina Warinner, Harvard University)
• “Ludovic Orlando is among the most brilliant scientists I have ever worked with. In Horses, he reveals how cutting-edge DNA research is rewriting the story of the four-thousand-year history of human-equine relationships. I warmly recommend his book, a fascinating blend of history, science, and personal narrative.” (Eske Willerslev, University of Copenhagen and University of Cambridge)
• “The origins and subsequent biological and cultural history of most domestic animals remain patchy. With this titanic book, Ludovic Orlando has ensured that what we now know about horses matches the outsized effect they have had on human history over the past four thousand years.” (Greger Larson, University of Oxford)

Horses

A 4,000-Year Genetic Journey Across the World

• Auteur: Ludovic Orlando (Frankrijk)
• Soort boek: populair wetenschappelijk paardenboek
• Origineel: La Conquête du cheval: Une histoire génétique (2023)
• Engelse vertaling: Teresa Lavender Fagan
• Uitgever: Princeton University Press
• Verschijnt: 9 september 2025
• Omvang: 288 pagina’s
• Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook
• Prijs: $ 29,95
• Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol / Libris

Flaptekst van het boek van Ludovic Orlando over de genetische geschiedenis van het paard

Ludovic Orlando garnered world acclaim for helping to rewrite the genomic history of horse domestication. Horses takes you behind the scenes of this ambitious genealogical investigation, revealing how he and an international team of scientists discovered the elusive origins of modern horses. Along the way, he shows how the domestication of the horse changed the trajectory of civilization—with benefits and unforeseen consequences for the animals themselves.

Orlando brought together world-class experts in genomics, archaeology, and the history of peoples, languages, and migrations. Comparing the DNA of ancient horses to the genomes of dozens of modern horse breeds, these researchers reconstructed millennia of equine evolutionary history. They now believe that horses were first domesticated some 4,200 years ago on the steppes of the North Caucasus. Orlando discusses how selective breeding has significantly intensified over the past two centuries, giving rise to faster, stronger horses but also creating a severe decline in genetic diversity that has made horses more prone to genetic diseases. He looks at breeds throughout history and around the world, explaining how they have been bred for particular purposes or environments, from Botai and Przewalski’s horses to the warhorses of the Vikings and Genghis Khan, Arabian horses, thoroughbreds, Himalayan steeds, and mules.

Blending panoramic storytelling with cutting-edge genetic science, Horses chronicles an unbreakable bond that was forged thousands of years ago on the windswept Eurasian Steppe, one that heralded a bold new era in the human drama—that of speed.

Ludovic Orlando holds a doctorate in paleogenetics, is a CNRS silver medal-winning research director, and heads the Toulouse Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics at Paul-Sabatier University. He participated in the sequencing of the first ancient human genome and pushed the limits of DNA analysis beyond half a million years. His work is internationally recognized for having rewritten the genomic history of horse domestication.

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