This book is currently listed as #1 in Amazon's ichthyology category, so a potential reader might surmise that there's actually something to do with that subject is this book, or perhaps at least the taxonomy of fish generally. There is not. Instead this is a biography of taxonomist David Starr Jordan (also first President of Stanford, which is considerably more important to the book's content in several ways) melded with a personal memoir of the author. It is highly readable and engaging, and offers an interesting discussion of the philosophy of life from a non-religious perspective. However, I feel it is important to note that this book has essentially no information about science, the scientific process, or even Jordan's place in the history of science.
The only substantial discussion of ichthyology in this is text is in fact directly parroted from an different work Naming Nature, by Carol Kaesuk Yoon. I have read that work, this one contains hardly any original material on the subject and frankly rather abuses the fairly complex taxonomic point that 'fish' as referenced in common parlance do not form a monophyletic group using cladistic methods and in doing so completely fails to answer the question possessed by its title (something Yoon's text, for what it's worth, at least tries to do). Instead, it chooses to deploy this particular factoid as a rather complex metaphor.
There is much to recommend about this book, as a memoir of a young woman in the United States interlaced with a biography, and the illustrations by Kate Samworth used for the chapter headings are quite lovely (and quite non-creditted on main page, come on Amazon), but if you're looking for a book that's even remotely about fish, look elsewhere.
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Hardcover – Illustrated, 14 April 2020
by
Lulu Miller
(Author)
See all formats and editions
Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price
|
New from | Used from |
Hardcover, Illustrated
""
|
S$39.40
|
S$22.53 | — |
FREE delivery: 22 - 25 March Details
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
- Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNANeil ShubinHardcover
- The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)Philippa PerryHardcover
- Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving UniverseBrian GreeneHardcover
Product details
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1501160273
- ISBN-13 : 978-1501160271
-
Best Sellers Rank:
11,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 14 in Zoology
- 29 in Animal Sciences
- 35 in Scientist Biographies
- Customer reviews:
Product description
Review
"A great escape... [and] an extended reflection on how to weather the storm during trying times."
-- Outside
"Completely entrancing."
-- O, The Oprah Magazine
"Lulu Miller moves gracefully between reporting and meditation, big questions and small moments. This book is a magical hybrid of science, portraiture, and memoir -- and a delight to read."
-- Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book
"Riveting and rollicking... total magic."
-- Garden & Gun
"What a delightful book... Ms. Miller [spins] a tale so seductive that I read her book in one sitting."
-- The Wall Street Journal
"Unconventional... What initially seems like an homage to an indomitable scientist [turns] into a philosophical tale about the limitations of tidy narratives and the dangers of unyielding belief."
-- Undark
"Stunning and brilliant and completely un-sum-up-able... I love this book so much!"
-- John Green, New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down
"I want to live at this book's address: the intersection of history and biology and wonder and failure and sheer human stubbornness. What a sumptuous, surprising, dark delight."
-- Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties
"Some years back, Lulu Miller disappeared down a very strange rabbit hole that led her to places neither she nor you would ever be able to anticipate. I highly recommend you follow her down the hole, because of her singular and gigantic gifts as a writer and storyteller, but also because of what's down there: love, chaos, strychnine, a gun, dangerous delusions, heroic dandelions, a cow, a snorkel mask through which grander truths are revealed... This book is perfect, just perfect. It's both lyrical and learned, personal and political, small and huge, quirky and profound."
-- Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff
"Riveting. Surprising. Shocking, even! Why Fish Don't Exist begins with a mesmerizing account of the life of distinguished biologist David Starr Jordan--and then, quite unexpectedly, turns into so much more. Narrated in Lulu Miller's intimate, quirky voice, this is a story of science and struggle, of heartbreak and chaos. This book will capture your heart, seize your imagination, smash your preconceptions, and rock your world."
-- Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus
-- Outside
"Completely entrancing."
-- O, The Oprah Magazine
"Lulu Miller moves gracefully between reporting and meditation, big questions and small moments. This book is a magical hybrid of science, portraiture, and memoir -- and a delight to read."
-- Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book
"Riveting and rollicking... total magic."
-- Garden & Gun
"What a delightful book... Ms. Miller [spins] a tale so seductive that I read her book in one sitting."
-- The Wall Street Journal
"Unconventional... What initially seems like an homage to an indomitable scientist [turns] into a philosophical tale about the limitations of tidy narratives and the dangers of unyielding belief."
-- Undark
"Stunning and brilliant and completely un-sum-up-able... I love this book so much!"
-- John Green, New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down
"I want to live at this book's address: the intersection of history and biology and wonder and failure and sheer human stubbornness. What a sumptuous, surprising, dark delight."
-- Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties
"Some years back, Lulu Miller disappeared down a very strange rabbit hole that led her to places neither she nor you would ever be able to anticipate. I highly recommend you follow her down the hole, because of her singular and gigantic gifts as a writer and storyteller, but also because of what's down there: love, chaos, strychnine, a gun, dangerous delusions, heroic dandelions, a cow, a snorkel mask through which grander truths are revealed... This book is perfect, just perfect. It's both lyrical and learned, personal and political, small and huge, quirky and profound."
-- Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff
"Riveting. Surprising. Shocking, even! Why Fish Don't Exist begins with a mesmerizing account of the life of distinguished biologist David Starr Jordan--and then, quite unexpectedly, turns into so much more. Narrated in Lulu Miller's intimate, quirky voice, this is a story of science and struggle, of heartbreak and chaos. This book will capture your heart, seize your imagination, smash your preconceptions, and rock your world."
-- Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus
About the Author
Lulu Miller is the cohost of Radiolab, cofounder of NPR's Invisibilia, and a Peabody Award-winning science journalist. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, VQR, Orion, Electric Literature, Catapult, and beyond. Her favorite spot on earth is Humpback Rocks.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
No customer reviews
5 star (0%) |
|
0% |
4 star (0%) |
|
0% |
3 star (0%) |
|
0% |
2 star (0%) |
|
0% |
1 star (0%) |
|
0% |
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we do not use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon.com
Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars
126 reviews

Daniel C Kinicki
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ichthyology Not Found
15 May 2020 -
Published on Amazon.comVerified Purchase
65 people found this helpful

David T. Johnson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good biography, bad memoir
2 June 2020 -
Published on Amazon.comVerified Purchase
This book tries to do three things, and does one of them well. (1) As a mini-biography of taxonomist David Starr Jordan, it rocks. Among other fascinating findings, who knew that the (exceedingly gritty and persistent) first President of Stanford University may have murdered the wife of Stanford's founder? (2) As an account of fish and science and life, the book is OK, but it is not deep or original. (3) As a memoir, it belly-flops. On p.34 we are told that the author (at age 7) asked her father "What's the meaning of life?" And we are told that he told her, "Nothing!... as special as you might feel, you are no different than an ant. A bit bigger, maybe, but not more significant, except, do I see you aerating the soil? Do I see you feeding on timber to accelerate the process of decomposition?" How's that for realistically describing how a dad speaks to his first-grade daughter? And then at the the end of the book (p.190), after the author has told us about her frequent suicidal ideations and attempts, we are told that her enlightenment came in a flash, when she went swimming with her girlfriend in Bermuda, and the girlfriend removed her bikini shorts and "swam out before me, liberated, frog-kicking just to let me look...through the clarity of a snorkel...to look" (p.190). This, we are told, is when the author knew that she was done. In her own capital letters: "I NEVER WANT A LIFE WITHOUT THIS PERSON." After describing this remarkable event (which I paraphrase as "I saw her genitals underwater and now I feel fine!"), the author informs us that the best way of ensuring that *we* do not miss the gifts of life is "to admit, with every breath" that we have no idea what we are looking at (p.191). Given what was described on the preceeding pages, the conclusion would have more coherence if it recommended that readers go to Bermuda and find some genitals to look at through a snorkel.
42 people found this helpful

Sher
3.0 out of 5 stars
Starts strong, ends like every other Millennial
9 May 2020 -
Published on Amazon.comVerified Purchase
I was pulled in by the story of David Starr Jordan--I thought that was written very well--but about midway through the book I started to have issues with the details on the history of the science (I teach many of the topics), and then there was a good deal of author-interpretation of Darwin's intended meaning of life. The "author's story" and review of psychology is getting to be very popular in literature, and I have read enough of it that I knew precisely how this Millennial drama/love story would end.
35 people found this helpful

Kirsten Campbell-Marks
5.0 out of 5 stars
A right now So good Book
23 April 2020 -
Published on Amazon.comVerified Purchase
I never review
I made an effort to review this book
This is truly one of the most profound books of our time, Lulu takes personal stories weaves them in science and contemporary histories, to tell a story of search and discovery, understanding and questioning
Funny at times, frustrating facts of humans history, a-ha moments, smiles, tears, googling, corner flipping, can't put it down, still thinking about it...kind of book
I made an effort to review this book
This is truly one of the most profound books of our time, Lulu takes personal stories weaves them in science and contemporary histories, to tell a story of search and discovery, understanding and questioning
Funny at times, frustrating facts of humans history, a-ha moments, smiles, tears, googling, corner flipping, can't put it down, still thinking about it...kind of book
35 people found this helpful

Adam N
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly relevant for this moment in history
30 April 2020 -
Published on Amazon.comVerified Purchase
I love Lulu Miller's NPR's Invisibilia and started her debut prepared for a unique, informative, and laugh out loud story of this little known historical figure (taxonomist David Starr Jordan) and how his life story became interwoven with that of the author. I wasn't expecting it to be so deeply relevant to our current COVID-19 reality, and I consider it a must-read for anyone hoping to make sense of their time in social distancing/quarantine. At its core, Jordan (and Miller) are attempting to create order out of Chaos, and even in the book's introduction she speaks of how collecting and organizing can provide great solace during times of trauma and uncertainty. There are thousands of small and large lessons to be learned in these pages--many that can be implemented today--and it's simply a lot of fun to read Lulu's sentences. Grab this book and dive into the hidden order of life, you won't be sorry.
26 people found this helpful