The Fastest Growing Religion on Earth: How Genealogy Captured the Brains and Imaginations of Americans

by Doug Bremner

For millions of Americans, the quest to find one’s ancestors has become an obsession, and for some even a religion. After writing a book about the history of his family, the author realized that half of it was missing, literally. This is the story about how he found the other half, and what he learned along the way about the history and practice of genealogy, his fellow genealogy fanatics, and himself.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

184 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2013

About the author

Doug Bremner is a physician, researcher, professor, and author of nonfiction works including "You Can't Just Snap Out of It: The Real Path to Recovery From Psychological Trauma," "The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg," "Before You Take that Pill" and "Does Stress Damage the Brain?" "A Fresh Look at Greed", and "Fastest Growing Religion on Earth: How Genealogy Captured America." He has also authored fictional novels and screenplays. He is writer and director of the independent romantic comedy 'Inheritance, Italian Style' He lives in Atlanta, GA, with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off I would like to thank Momma Says Read for providing the giveaway in which I won this. Second, Thanks to the author for offering his book as a prize.

When I first got this book I was actually excited, hoping to learn more about genealogy. What I got was mostly a personal account of the authors personal history. While there were some interesting bits even in that, it was not what I was hoping for.

Overall, the book is as vague as the summary. It touches a bit on how genealogy is so popular and obsessive by some, it compares to and seems cultish and religious. The book starts off about how Mormons collect records of birth, marriage, death, etc of every person they can. Then goes into mentioning his own experience a bit mentioning some sites he used. Then back to Mormons, then we jump into his personal conquest of his lineage. All in the same chapter! I would have felt much more at ease with it if the book was done differently. Maybe broken up the book, the first chapter or 2 about genealogy in general. The next several chapters can be his own experience then give websites, experts etc. It is so heavily mixed. One minute I feel like I am reading a memoir, the next a few paragraphs of an index. His experience isn't covered in order either. IT seems to work in flashbacks at times.

So ultimately, very badly organized. It would have been better to either write this as a memoir or break it up into sections. Too much crossing over for me.

If you want to read about the authors family history read this book. If you are looking to learn about genealogy and how to learn your own, this isn't very helpful.

[Linda B · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is a little misleading as this book is not about religion, but more about a growing obsession and passion for genealogy. I have spent about twelve years researching my genealogy, but I have always found that it is difficult to be interested in someone else’s history. Fortunately, Doug Bremner is an excellent writer, and he has the ability to draw the reader into his story.

I found it a little difficult to follow at times, but then I find it hard to follow my research when it gets a few generations back. This is not a recitation of names and places, but a real story of the history of this family and the struggle in finding information about a broken family. I enjoyed reading about his method of finding and connecting with people for whom he hoped would hold the key to his story.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this via a goodreads giveaway and was really looking forward to reading it, expecting it to be about genealogy in general and tips on how I can improve on my own family research. It was instead an account of the author's own research and what he found out about his family. Whilst there are a few references to websites etc the title of the book is completely misleading.
Don't get me wrong, this wasn't all bad. I quite like reading about other people's family histories and watching TV programmes of a similar nature but this book was so badly written I found it difficult to keep track of who was who. The blurb indicated that this was the story of his mother's side of the family but huge chunks were dedicated to talking about his father's side which I believe he has already written a book on.
Overall it's a good story just not executed very well at all.

[Lys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from Making Connections and the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book isn't what I expected, but I did quite enjoy it. It was a personal journey on the part of the author - a memoir of sorts wherein he recounted the difficulty of his quest for his past and the personal reflection that accompanied him on that journey. As a personal account of Mr. Brenner's quest to find his family, it was a successful and interesting read, and I think he addressed a lot of questions that are common to the human experience and grappled with doubts that most people have had. For the most part, the personal quest was not exclusionary - it was exemplary.

The other aspect of the book was information on genealogy and how the process of trying to locate one's "root" has evolved. There were a number of resources for starting one's own genealogical quest and a fair smattering of research and background information. Because of the personal nature of the author's "obsession" he was able to recount, in detail, how the genealogy "craze" has grown up in America. It's popularity, and also the places that it overlaps with religion, as well as speculation about its "addictive" qualities were all very interesting, and the information on mitochondrial Eves was of specific interest to me.

Both the personal and the informational (?), researched aspects of the book were interesting, and the book was pleasant to read. It even spurred me into a brief foray with my own genealogy until I realized that such a quest would require more resources than I really could devote.

All of that was good. The "bad" might have been in the way the information was put together. At times, it was difficult to follow the story because there were a lot of names and (obscure, to the reader) facts being thrown about. There were full emails included, some of which seemed mostly to be filler, since other emails were omitted, or since many were "dead ends" for the author. There were lots of resources outside of the book that one could refer to, but the resources within the book (the author's tree, for example) came at odd points in the midst of huge information dumps. While I understood, as a reader, that I needed the near misses and the disappointment of discovering an invalid connection, I thought that my own lack of familiarity with Brenner's family tree was perhaps not being recognized by him. Especially because I was reading an ebook, I found myself in frequent need of a backtrack to remember what was being referred to. The inclusion of headings, dates, and organized qualifying information (and maybe a timeline!) might have helped me follow the personal aspect of the book much better.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads ARC giveaway and was asked for a honest review.

Being a genealogist, I had put myself in for the giveaway for this book and I'm glad I did as this book was interesting and informative. I felt this is an excellent case study of Doug Bremner's genealogical pursuit and it's one I could identify with in parts. I really liked that he expressed his thoughts as he encountered challenges, crazy people, and the various responses people give to those seeking family history.

However, I do not quite feel that his overall thesis of how genealogy is the fastest growing religion on earth was supported in his book. As I said, it was a case study and there was a bit about some other genealogists, but not with any great detail. Nevertheless, Bremner may not be wrong as I too was bit by the same bug in the early 90's and have spent countless hours researching and helping others research.

[Linda W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book via Goodreads First Reads.

I really enjoyed this novel. Bremner laid out his own journey in finding his relatives each step of the way, but also included facts about how genealogy became a popular concept and an obsession for some people.

I found the story a bit confusing at times because there were a lot of similar names introduced that were hard to keep up with. At the same time, it was captivating. It was very personal and detailed.

After reading this novel, I am intrigued to learn more about genealogy and possible get into it myself!

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Fastest Growing Religion on Earth takes you on the journey of Doug Bremner and his quest to fill out his family tree. The book is more of a narration about his ancestors rather than a book about this new craze that is Genealogy. There are still a few chapters included that talk about where Genealogy came from and how the Mormon church is involved in the whole process. It would be a great read for anyone who is thinking about tracing their ancestry since lots of examples of places to start are given throughout.

[Bonny Macisaac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judging from the title I had hoped for more details about how a person can go about searching for their roots. What I did find was the author's account of his own search and how one can get caught up in this quest. Yes, once you start you can't stop. I did like the personal stories. I think I would have rated it higher if there were some tips for searching for those of us just starting out.