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Audiobook7 hours
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-billion-year History of the Human Body
Written by Neil Shubin
Narrated by Marc Cashman
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
Why do we look the way we do? What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Are breasts, sweat glands, and scales connected in some way? To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.
Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik-the "missing link" that made headlines around the world in April 2006-tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. By examining fossils and DNA, Shubin shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our head is organized like that of a long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look and function like those of worms and bacteria.
Shubin makes us see ourselves and our world in a completely new light. YOUR INNER FISH is science writing at its finest-enlightening, accessible, and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
From the Compact Disc edition.
Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik-the "missing link" that made headlines around the world in April 2006-tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. By examining fossils and DNA, Shubin shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our head is organized like that of a long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look and function like those of worms and bacteria.
Shubin makes us see ourselves and our world in a completely new light. YOUR INNER FISH is science writing at its finest-enlightening, accessible, and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
From the Compact Disc edition.
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Reviews for Your Inner Fish
Rating: 3.998008864541833 out of 5 stars
4/5
502 ratings46 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5'Bait-and-switch' would be an appropriate metaphor to evaluate this book. Usually, praise on the cover blurb isn't worth reading, but some of the confusion can be gleaned from it. Shubin is a biologist specialized in the anatomy of fish. The first four chapters are about the discovery of a fossil which is an important missing link in evolution theory about fish evolving into land animals. This is what interested me to buy the book. However, the rest of the book is an elementary course in human anatomy, cross compared with fish. I already knew that. So, yeah well, the first 80 pages were interesting. A book with a rather misleading cover.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An interesting look at how the evolution of the human body can be traced and mirrored in other animals, both modern and ancient. Some parts are written exactly the way you would expect a lecture to be spoken. Other parts are more like a memoir. Despite these alterations in style, it's an easy book to read, at least if you have some background in biology. Definitely worth a read if you have an interest in human anatomy, or evolution in general.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Within us human beings like the bones, tissue and DNA of fish: who knew?! This chatty book makes even higher-level genetics interesting... even this liberal arts gal enjoyed the read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A great book about the evolution of fish into proto-mammals and the science that leads to theories that leads to paleontology that leads to proof of those theories.The author is an excellent writer - able to make these concepts easy to understand without dumming down the science. I especially like the way the chapters were ordered - each chapter played off another. Also, Shubin always came back to how each change from fish, to amphibian, to mammal, relates back to humans. Very good read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"Your Inner Fish" is about the evolution of life on Earth into what it is today and the discovery of one of the first animals to walk on land. I found this book to be extremely interesting. Some of the concepts were hard to wrap my head around and I was often confused by the information, but overall I feel I learned a lot from this book. The language of the book is all objective, all facts about evolution; however, you could feel the author's excitement over his work and discoveries. The book brings you on a journey from the first organisms of life, to the first to walk the Earth, to the first human beings, and along the way making connections between organisms across the globe and throughout time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The human bears the history of evolution in manyways in the body - lots to learn from this book, and pretty much kills creationism.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As an aspiring man of science, I can truly appreciate this incredible depiction of one of humankind's earliest ancestors. Beyond simple biological jargon, Shubin establishes a pervasive insight into the questions of substance that govern the fossil record. From the tiny bones in our mammalian ears to the arrangement of individual bones in each of our limbs, he lays out a fascinating picture of the many ways in which our bodies are abounding with remnants of a more "fishy" body and lifestyle. His emphasis of the virtue of the scientific method and the necessity to endlessly experiment and create does the field of paleontology real justice.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fun exploration of human evolution, tracing our relationship with the fish. This is a good way to find a new approach to human evolution, which all too often is obsessed with the other primates only, and neglects our fishy lineage.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Inner Fish is an excellent book for those who are interested in paleontology and anatomy. Shubin accounts for his team's own discovery with an in depth analysis of the evolution of humans from the very beginning of life on Earth. This makes the accredits the discovery by making it seem like the missing puzzle piece to all of Biology. The discovery did play a huge role in many modern advances, but some bias is apparent as the first few chapters are made into more of a biography than the scientific informative piece it is made out to be. The book nonetheless provides interesting connections in a broad scope among biological fields that all point to the genetics that control evolution as a whole. The reasons behind Tiktaalik's existence provide an intriguing argument for the theory of evolution.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Accessible language, captivating, with amazing scientific facts! The author is just an amazing scientist who has combined infallible patience in his work, risk taking, strong will, curiosity, and to crown it all, he remains humble. Thank you Neil Shubin for your contribution to humanity!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Science writing at its best. Wonderful book about how our human bodies came about through evolution from fish and earlier. The title always sounded a bit odd to me, and if it does to you, please don’t let that prevent you from reading this masterpiece. Easy and fun to read, and although I’ve been reading about evolution for years I still learned a ton from this book, and had a great time doing so. Also fun to read about what paleontologist do, and how it fits in with other strands of biology (and geology).
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Inner FishA Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human BodyBy: Neil ShubinThis was a terrific look at how nature was a recycler of ideas! Through the years if something didn't work nature didn't necessarily make a new creature but used recycled ideas on creatures to see where that would lead. The book just didn't cover paleontology but also genetics, biology, and more. It was very informative and interesting! The way the information is presented is light and comfortable, touch of humor, and easy to follow. If this genre interests you, then this is a must read!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A really excellent book that gives some insight to how we came to be here and the consequences of ancient choices on our bodies.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Traces human physiognomy back to its origins in the earliest known life forms. For instance, the bones in fins changed to proto-limbs as fish began to adapt to life on land, and this structure evolved into the human wrist.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting premise but long winded, meandering and repetitive. Author takes unnecessary detour to his own career to illustrate points that could be better explained otherwise. Author is also a incessant name dropper.
But, the book provides incontrovertible evidence to the reality of evolution. If you still deny evolution after reading this book, nothing will convince you.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A very good but very basic and oversimplistic introduction to evolution. Author Neil Shubin is a vertebrate paleontologist with a side interest in molecular biology, which makes him well qualified to explain both gross anatomical and genetic evolution. The book’s written in an engaging style, combining theoretical discussing with and account of Shubin’s collecting experiences on Ellesmere Island. There are nice maps, and good diagrams explaining things like Hox genes and what happens to embryonic gill arches.However, I’m afraid Shubin sometimes goes too far in making things accessible to lay people. The most egregious example is his consistent use of “designed” where he means “evolved”. I predict a lot of out-of-context quotes. A second problem is Shubin’s casual approach to taxonomy. The cephalochordate Amphioxus becomes a “worm”; not a “worm-like creature”, but just a worm. Conodonts are the “teeth of a jawless fish” according to Shubin; while conodont animals are probably chordates and maybe even vertebrates, they aren’t “fish” the way most people use the term, and the conodonts themselves are probably not “teeth” but part of a filtering apparatus. Shubin’s centerpiece, Tiktaalik (which was found and named by one of his expeditions and which appears on the cover) is also just described as a “fish”; admittedly, calling something a “Tetrapodiform” or “Tetrapodimorph” might have confused some readers, but it would have also provided a great hook to explain cladistics and the problem of pigeon-hole classification.If you’re only going to read one book on evolution and/or the origins of vertebrate anatomy, this is a good choice; if you want to continue you’ll have to unlearn a few things.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The title and cover warrant five stars. But the rest of the book was more like three and a half stars. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the scientific process and how paleontologists go about finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. I also liked the way the author brought together paleontology, genetics, and embryology into a coherent story. Some of the particular topics, like that anatomy of hands and teeth were fascinating.
But going through each aspect of our anatomy, bit by bit, with relatively little analytic content (or at least not much that was new to me) could drag at times. And there wasn't nearly as much to take away from the book as there was from, for example, Sean Carroll's Making of the Fittest. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I understand that this book has spawned a fairly popular BBC production, which I should probably check out. I picked the book up because I was looking for answers to lingering questions I’ve had about evolution, and was pleased to find not only the answers I was looking for, but answers to a lot of questions I probably should have been asking! A serviceable analogy is to imagine Shubin as a magician revealing his trade secrets. Before I read this, the idea of nature having separately created so many specialized adaptations seemed almost incomprehensible. Then Shubin reveals the “behind the curtain” manipulations of natural selection and change over time, and suddenly these outcomes seem not just explicable, but even just a little obvious. I expect this is how Watson felt every time Sherlock Holmes revealed the logical process that lay behind his seemingly “miraculous” deductions. Evolutionary science is by no means “elementary,” but in Shubin’s hands it is revealed to be both logical and credible. Essentially, the book traces the ancient antecedents of our human anatomy back to their evolutionary beginnings. Some of our traits are relatively newly acquired – our sense of smell, for instance. But the basic genes that establish our body shape – that distinguish “head” from “tail”, and “left” from “right”, for instance – are ancient indeed, originating from genes that have been around since the first jellyfish populated primordial oceans. The book tackles our basic body systems one at a time, using evidence from paleontology, embryology and genetics to painstakingly track the evolution of each body part from its origins to its modern day form/function. For instance, the author tracks how bones that used to form part of reptilian skulls in time came to be repurposed as mammalian earbones; how nerves that used to enable fish to use their throats to both breathe and eat gradually came to control the muscles that pump our heart (inefficiencies in this “jury rigged system” are to blame for hiccups, by the way); and how the genes that used to produce gills in fish have been repurposed by evolutionary pressures to create the features of our human faces. Though the first few chapters were on the dry side, I eventually began warming to the topic and by the end was reading enthusiastically. This experience, however, inclines me to be cautious about recommending Inner Fish to others. In spite of the author’s herculean efforts to make the content entertaining and accessible, folks looking for a light scientific read or who have forgotten most of what they learned in 9th grade biology may find parts of this a tough slog. If, however, you find yourself (like me) wondering how the millions of specialized creatures inhabiting the earth today can possibly have evolved from clumps of primodial ooze, then I think you’ll find this book both fascinating and informative.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A basic, approachable look at human evolution, including some very interesting sections on the possible and convoluted origins of certain health issues (hiccups, hernias). Shubin's got a reasonably funny sense of humor and keeps the book moving along at a good, brisk pace.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book started out slow for me, but I grew to like it more and more as I went on. Shubin's boyish sense of humor asserted itself in the latter parts of the book, to my delight. The book is very easy to understand, so much so that I would unreservedly recommend it to any bright middle schooler who wants to understand evolution, and I think it belongs in every high school library. The drawings are brilliant, not to mention amusing. Shubin also uses practical and interesting examples to illustrate the concepts he's discussing. In addition to all that, he told me exactly why people who drink a lot think they are spinning when in fact they are not moving at all.
Recommended. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This wasn't written all that well (not badly by any means...) but it was pretty interesting...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It’s a fascinating book that traces the origins of limbs, hands, teeth, eyes, ears, smell receptors, and bodies themselves, with data from paleontology, embryology and genetics.From reading this book, I've gained a new understanding of not only how our various body parts and organs evolved and why, but how the evolution works in general. Time and again, some genes got duplicated by mistake, and then eventually one of the copies mutated into something useful, and the mutation survived because it gave an advantage to the descendants who had inherited it. In this way, for example, two kinds of color vision receptors that most mammals have increased to three in Old World monkeys, and the number of odor genes have multiplied from a handful in jawless fish to over a thousand in mammals. However, evolution is apparently a two-way street. Once something becomes less useful, mutations that prevent that gene from functioning properly don't harm the animal too much and get passed on to the next generation. Thus, once colorful fruit appeared in the jungles and monkeys developed a richer color vision "in response" and began relying more on sight and less on smell to identify the best fruit to eat, their sense of smell deteriorated. Shubin writes that "fully three hundred" of their (and our) odor genes "are rendered completely functionless by mutations that have altered their structure beyond repair." It was also fascinating for me to learn how precursors of some of our organs and various structures existed in very early animals, biding their time till the situation changed and they could evolve into something useful.I also found out many interesting facts about how our organisms from this book. For instance, I was surprised to learn that an odor receptor can interact with only one kind of molecule, and that's why we need so many of them, and consequently so many odor genes. But a particular smell may be composed of many molecules in various quantities, and so the author likens the signals our brain receives from various activated odor receptors to a chord. Another thing that surprised me was that a gene that switches on, say, hand- or eye-building genes in one animal would do the same in a totally different animal if inserted into its embryo, simulating its genes to build an eye or a hand wherever it's inserted. Thus, a mice gene can trigger a fly's eye-building genes to make an extra eye – a fly's type of eye, of course – wherever it's inserted. A paleontologist, Neil Shubin also writes about their work: how they decide where to go to search for fossils, how they look for them in the field, and the work that gets done with the fossils after they get home. He says that it may take several expeditions to the same place to discover something significant, and since they usually search in most undisturbed places – deserts or high Arctic where it snows even in July – they have to put up with prolonged stays in tents in uncomfortable conditions. However, he manages to write with humor about the lifestyle necessitated by his profession. In general, I've found this a very well written book. No matter what he writes about, it never gets boring.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fun exploration of human evolution, tracing our relationship with the fish. This is a good way to find a new approach to human evolution, which all too often is obsessed with the other primates only, and neglects our fishy lineage.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A fascinating and very approachable explanation of the evolution of humans from the first excursions out of the pond. Shubin steers clear, mostly, from any reference to the "debate" between creationists and scientists, but the book so superbly and plainly presents the connections between modern humans and our ancestors of every type, that it should be used as a teaching tool as part of every high school science curriculum in the country.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fascinating and well explained book of popular science; Neil Shubin is a very clear and easy writer. This covers the discovery of Tiktaalik, the fish-amphibian intermediary with fossils found exactly as predicted in the Canadian arctic. But it's not just a paleontology story, it's about what we have in common with our early ancestors in terms of genes, embryology and anatomy. What do we have in common with fish? Lots! Read it and find out, it's worth the time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Your Inner Fish is a popular science book and scientist memoir - the author digs up millions year old fossils for a living in exotic parts of the world. The main idea is that humans evolved from more primitive creatures, like fish, and we still have the vestiges of those creatures in our biology and anatomy. The first and last chapter are very good, but the meat of the book was somewhat uninteresting, for me. The author is clearly excited about it, and other readers really enjoyed it, but for some reason I just didn't find much of interest.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great book about the human body and what we have common with out ancestors like fish, jellyfish or even sponges. Paleontological, anatomical and genetical proofs that we are a close relative of the great family of Earth's animals. And yes, the explanation why we hiccup...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first time I picked up "Your Inner fish" I was taken aback at all the terminology Shubin throws at his readers - and that even though I myself was studying anatomy at that moment. Two years later it proved to be an interesting read on how all animal life is related in often not very obvious ways. Nice to know where hiccups come from and who we have to thank for them: thanks for that, mr. tadpole!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fun science. Clearly written, with simple and helpful drawings. Why we hiccup, why the three-boned middle ear is important, and the evolution of bozos. I want to run out and search for fossils.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Oh hey, a book on science for the masses that uses tons of unnecessary metaphors that don't really apply! How original! The last chapter is good though. It talks about the evolutionary basis of health problems. It's mostly straightforward, and only uses one stupid metaphor comparing the human body to a souped-up VW Beetle.