Your Inner Fish
A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage)
authors
data
Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-307-27745-3
ISBN-13: 9780307277459
Publisher: Vintage
Country:
Year: January 6, 2009
Edition: 1 Reprint
Size: 13.21 x 20.19 x 2.21cm
Number of pages: 256
Weight: 281gr
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-307-27745-3
ISBN-13: 9780307277459
Publisher: Vintage
Country:
Year: January 6, 2009
Edition: 1 Reprint
Size: 13.21 x 20.19 x 2.21cm
Number of pages: 256
Weight: 281gr
Binding: Paperback
editions
order
catalog
description
Amazon.com Review
Oliver Sacks on Your Inner Fish
Since the 1970 publication of Migraine, neurologist Oliver Sacks's unusual and fascinating case histories of »differently brained« people and phenomena--a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome, a community of people born totally colorblind, musical hallucinations, to name a few--have been marked by extraordinary compassion and humanity, focusing on the patient as much as the condition. His books include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film), and 2007's Musicophilia. He lives in New York City, where he is Professor of Clinical Neurology at Columbia University.
Your Inner Fish is my favorite sort of book--an intelligent, exhilarating, and compelling scientific adventure story, one which will change forever how you understand what it means to be human. The field of evolutionary biology is just beginning an exciting new age of discovery, and Neil Shubin's research expeditions around the world have redefined the way we now look at the origins of mammals, frogs, crocodiles, tetrapods, and sarcopterygian fish--and thus the way we look at the descent of humankind. One of Shubin's groundbreaking discoveries, only a year and a half ago, was the unearthing of a fish with elbows and a neck, a long-sought evolutionary »missing link« between creatures of the sea and land-dwellers. My own mother was a surgeon and a comparative anatomist, and she drummed it into me, and into all of her students, that our own anatomy is unintelligible without a knowledge of its evolutionary origins and precursors. The human body becomes infinitely fascinating with such knowledge, which Shubin provides here with grace and clarity. Your Inner Fish shows us how, like the fish with elbows, we carry the whole history of evolution within our own bodies, and how the human genome links us with the rest of life on earth. Shubin is not only a distinguished scientist, but a wonderfully lucid and elegant writer; he is an irrepressibly enthusiastic teacher whose humor and intelligence and spellbinding narrative make this book an absolute delight. Your Inner Fish is not only a great read; it marks the debut of a science writer of the first rank. (Photo © Elena Seibert) A Note from Author Neil Shubin This book grew out of an extraordinary circumstance in my life. On account of faculty departures, I ended up directing the human anatomy course at the University of Chicago medical school. Anatomy is the course during which nervous first-year medical students dissect human cadavers while learning the names and organization of most of the organs, holes, nerves, and vessels in the body. This is their grand entrance to the world of medicine, a formative experience on their path to becoming physicians. At first glance, you couldn't have imagined a worse candidate for the job of training the next generation of doctors: I'm a fish paleontologist. It turns out that being a paleontologist is a huge advantage in teaching human anatomy. Why? The best roadmaps to human bodies lie in the bodies of other animals. The simplest way to teach students the nerves in the human head is to show them the state of affairs in sharks. The easiest roadmap to their limbs lies in fish. Reptiles are a real help with the structure of the brain. The reason is that the bodies of these creatures are simpler versions of ours. During the summer of my second year leading the course, working in the Arctic, my colleagues and I discovered fossil fish that gave us powerful new insights into the invasion of land by fish over 375 million years ago. That discovery and my foray into teaching human anatomy led me to a profound connection. That connection became this book. Click on thumbnails for larger images
Oliver Sacks on Your Inner Fish
Since the 1970 publication of Migraine, neurologist Oliver Sacks's unusual and fascinating case histories of »differently brained« people and phenomena--a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome, a community of people born totally colorblind, musical hallucinations, to name a few--have been marked by extraordinary compassion and humanity, focusing on the patient as much as the condition. His books include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film), and 2007's Musicophilia. He lives in New York City, where he is Professor of Clinical Neurology at Columbia University.
Your Inner Fish is my favorite sort of book--an intelligent, exhilarating, and compelling scientific adventure story, one which will change forever how you understand what it means to be human. The field of evolutionary biology is just beginning an exciting new age of discovery, and Neil Shubin's research expeditions around the world have redefined the way we now look at the origins of mammals, frogs, crocodiles, tetrapods, and sarcopterygian fish--and thus the way we look at the descent of humankind. One of Shubin's groundbreaking discoveries, only a year and a half ago, was the unearthing of a fish with elbows and a neck, a long-sought evolutionary »missing link« between creatures of the sea and land-dwellers. My own mother was a surgeon and a comparative anatomist, and she drummed it into me, and into all of her students, that our own anatomy is unintelligible without a knowledge of its evolutionary origins and precursors. The human body becomes infinitely fascinating with such knowledge, which Shubin provides here with grace and clarity. Your Inner Fish shows us how, like the fish with elbows, we carry the whole history of evolution within our own bodies, and how the human genome links us with the rest of life on earth. Shubin is not only a distinguished scientist, but a wonderfully lucid and elegant writer; he is an irrepressibly enthusiastic teacher whose humor and intelligence and spellbinding narrative make this book an absolute delight. Your Inner Fish is not only a great read; it marks the debut of a science writer of the first rank. (Photo © Elena Seibert) A Note from Author Neil Shubin This book grew out of an extraordinary circumstance in my life. On account of faculty departures, I ended up directing the human anatomy course at the University of Chicago medical school. Anatomy is the course during which nervous first-year medical students dissect human cadavers while learning the names and organization of most of the organs, holes, nerves, and vessels in the body. This is their grand entrance to the world of medicine, a formative experience on their path to becoming physicians. At first glance, you couldn't have imagined a worse candidate for the job of training the next generation of doctors: I'm a fish paleontologist. It turns out that being a paleontologist is a huge advantage in teaching human anatomy. Why? The best roadmaps to human bodies lie in the bodies of other animals. The simplest way to teach students the nerves in the human head is to show them the state of affairs in sharks. The easiest roadmap to their limbs lies in fish. Reptiles are a real help with the structure of the brain. The reason is that the bodies of these creatures are simpler versions of ours. During the summer of my second year leading the course, working in the Arctic, my colleagues and I discovered fossil fish that gave us powerful new insights into the invasion of land by fish over 375 million years ago. That discovery and my foray into teaching human anatomy led me to a profound connection. That connection became this book.  |  |  |
 |  |
Product Description
Details on a Major New Discovery included in a New Afterword Why do we look the way we do? Neil Shubin, the paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells the story of our bodies as you've never heard it before. By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
Details on a Major New Discovery included in a New Afterword Why do we look the way we do? Neil Shubin, the paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells the story of our bodies as you've never heard it before. By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
reviews
Should be required reading 
Shubin simply and beautifully lays out what science has shown us about how our body plans evolved to the point we are at now. If skeptics of the fact of evolution read this book with an open mind, they will be convinced by the evidence Shubin lays out from paleontology and anatomy. However, what I really enjoyed was his coverage of embryology. Many creationist books I had read growing up made the claim that embryology was completely discredited, but this book showed me how utterly false that claim is. The evidence for evolution from the field of embryology is incredible when it is clearly explained without deliberate distortions.
Shubin simply and beautifully lays out what science has shown us about how our body plans evolved to the point we are at now. If skeptics of the fact of evolution read this book with an open mind, they will be convinced by the evidence Shubin lays out from paleontology and anatomy. However, what I really enjoyed was his coverage of embryology. Many creationist books I had read growing up made the claim that embryology was completely discredited, but this book showed me how utterly false that claim is. The evidence for evolution from the field of embryology is incredible when it is clearly explained without deliberate distortions.
So very applicable!
This was a required read for an evolutionary biology readings course. This is the best book I have ever read for college and would not hesitate to recommend it to everyone. Shubin is amazing, he writes so that everyone can understand, and it is applicable to life. It explains why creatures are the way they are, and it is interesting, exciting, and hard to put down. It would be a great introduction for people who are not scientific, and it is savory for the scientific minded. After reading this book I was excited to do a research paper on some of Shubin's other scientific works. I highly recommend this book.
This was a required read for an evolutionary biology readings course. This is the best book I have ever read for college and would not hesitate to recommend it to everyone. Shubin is amazing, he writes so that everyone can understand, and it is applicable to life. It explains why creatures are the way they are, and it is interesting, exciting, and hard to put down. It would be a great introduction for people who are not scientific, and it is savory for the scientific minded. After reading this book I was excited to do a research paper on some of Shubin's other scientific works. I highly recommend this book.
A Great Book
This book is a great choice for those who want to learn more about evolution.
This book is a great choice for those who want to learn more about evolution.
Very good, slow start 
I found this book quite good and very »fast« to read . It started somewhat slow and for a moment I thought the book was too introductory. That changed in the second half of the book (right after embryology). A number of people on Amazon claimed the book was dull but I didn't find it that way. Unlike some authors Shubin's passion for the topic does show on the pages and that kept it lively enough for me. Some criticism I have is in regards to the analogies he gave (the bozo family for example). Didn't like them and while I knew what he was getting at I thought it would confuse others who were less familiar with evolution. That said it was a good »one night« book.
I found this book quite good and very »fast« to read . It started somewhat slow and for a moment I thought the book was too introductory. That changed in the second half of the book (right after embryology). A number of people on Amazon claimed the book was dull but I didn't find it that way. Unlike some authors Shubin's passion for the topic does show on the pages and that kept it lively enough for me. Some criticism I have is in regards to the analogies he gave (the bozo family for example). Didn't like them and while I knew what he was getting at I thought it would confuse others who were less familiar with evolution. That said it was a good »one night« book.
Learned alot but boring in parts 
I am not a student of biology or science and was just looking for a book to learn more about evolution. I did learn alot and found myself going hmmmm … interesting … several times however until page 50 or so I found myself utterly bored. I skipped a couple parts in the book because I just found them too boring and I just wasn't interested. I see lots of 5 star reviews so Im guessing people who love fossils and rocks really like this book. If you dont then this is not the book for you.
I am not a student of biology or science and was just looking for a book to learn more about evolution. I did learn alot and found myself going hmmmm … interesting … several times however until page 50 or so I found myself utterly bored. I skipped a couple parts in the book because I just found them too boring and I just wasn't interested. I see lots of 5 star reviews so Im guessing people who love fossils and rocks really like this book. If you dont then this is not the book for you.
keywords
related products
Donald R. Prothero, Prof. Carl Buell (illustrator)
Columbia University Press; 2007
Hardcover
© 1994–2010 Sascha Hendel
last update: 3/11/2010
URL: http://www.book-info.com/isbn/0-307-27745-3.htm
- search