# Proto by Laura Spinney

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Proto by Laura Spinney and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a good overview of Proto-Indo-European, covering its branches, the Yamnaya, and links to DNA archaeology and historical linguistics.

## Why people recommend it

- Combines linguistics, archaeology and DNA (2 comments): "A new book about PIE and the Yamnaya and such and also incorporating tie-ins to DNA archeology." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49291315)) "it weaves this together with historical linguistics and archeology" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173551))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dawn-of-everything.md): 23 recommend
- [Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cadillac-desert.md): 18 recommend
- [The Box by Marc Levinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/box.md): 16 recommend
- [Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sapiens.md): 13 recommend
- [Chip War by Chris Miller](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chip-war.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0008626529?tag=YOURTAG-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/YOURID/9780008626525) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Proto by Laura Spinney", https://hackerapproved.com/p/proto/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).