Why Fish Don'T Exist by Lulu Miller
A wondrous debut from an extraordinary new voice in nonfiction, Why Fish Don't Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and--possibly--even murder. At one point, Miller dives into the ocean into a school of fish.comes up for air, and realizes she's in love. That's how I felt: Her book took me to strange depths I never imagined, and I was smitten. --The New York Times Book Review David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake--which sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life's work was shattered. Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world. When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool--a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet. Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don't Exist reads like a fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.
Miller, Lulu: -
Lulu Miller is the cofounder of the NPR program Invisibilia, a series from NPR about the unseen forces that control human behavior. Before creating Invisibilia, she produced Radiolab for five years and was a reporter on the NPR Science Desk. She has an MFA from the University of Virginia on a Poe-Faulkner Fellowship. Her work has won honors from the Peabody Awards, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Associated Press.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781501160349 |
| ISBN 10 | 1501160346 |
| Title | Why Fish Don'T Exist |
| Author | Lulu Miller |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Year published | 2021-04-06 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |