Why Fish Don't Exist
A Story of Loss, Love and the Hidden Order of Life
by Lulu Miller
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Pub Date 10 Oct 2024 | Archive Date Not set
Pushkin Press | ONE
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Description
When Lulu Miller's relationship falls apart, she turns to an unlikely figure for guidance - the 19th-century naturalist, David Starr Jordan. Pouring over his diaries, Lulu discovers a man obsessed with nature's hidden order, devoted to studying shimmering scales and sailing the world in search of new species of fish.
After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake sends more than a thousand of Jordan's specimens, housed in glass jars, plummeting to the ground, his story of resilience leads Lulu to believe she has found the antidote to life's unpredictability. But lurking behind the tale of this great taxonomist lies a darker story waiting to be told: one about the human cost of attempting to define the form of things unknown.
An idiosyncratic, personal approach to this fascinating scientific biography, Why Fish Don't Exist is an astonishing tale of newfound love, scientific discovery and how to live well in a world governed by chaos.
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9781805337591 |
PRICE | £16.99 (GBP) |
PAGES | 240 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
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Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
This book is a journey. I went from loving the main focus (David Starr Jordan) to hating him, the author does such a good job at building one side of his character (the most exposed side) and then flipping it on it's head.
The author connects her own internal struggle to David Starr Jordan so well, in ways you would not expect.
This book touches on a lot, from existentialism, to eugenics, to the natural world, and then finishes off with a really great concept of not believing everything presented to you.
I really enjoyed this, and usually the topics discussed would not be my first choice, but the author writes in such a cohesive, informative and sometimes funny way that made it fun from start to finish.