Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Book Review: An excellent book about evolution
Summary: 5 Stars
Shubin does an excellent job of explaining the link between his two jobs: teaching human anatomy and studying fossil fish. He explains what evolutionary science, i.e. paleontology, comparative anatomy, genetics, embryology and developmental biology have to tell us about the human body, and how it came to be the way it is. Examples include the evolutionary history of limb bones in fossil tetrapods, developmental control genes found in almost all animals today, the evolutionary history of mammalian teeth, the origin of basic "body-plans," genetic comparisons of genes important for our senses of smell and vision, and the history of the mammalian inner ear. He presents some of the evidence each field has to contribute, explains how the findings of the various fields support each other, and relates it all to his own personal research experience. Shubin does this in a way that should be accessible and interesting to most readers. The book is very readable, especially the earlier chapters. Shubin's message is positively pro-evolution rather than attacking Creationism in a negative way.Book Review: An excellent book!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very enjoyable and fantastic book, I could not put it down since it was so good! An eye opener. Easy to understand descriptons of scientific research that have been conducted up to date on fossils and a lot more of exciting information.Book Review: An ok read, but very basic stuff here.
Summary: 3 Stars
I think this book would be a decent read for someone with minimal science literacy, but really it is pretty elementary stuff. I kept wanting more technical details and I felt the author breezed through the subject matter in a fairly superficial way.
If you are already even remotely familiar with evolutionary biology then this book might be a little boring. I would, however, recommend it for those who are just being introduced to this subject - perhaps seventh graders?
Book Review: Another nail in the coffin of creationism
Summary: 5 Stars
Your Inner Fish is a fun read. Shubin takes us back to the beginning of
creatures with four limbs and a head, and beyond, then brings us forward
through time illustrating how we are all related. I especially enjoyed
learning about my inner tadpole, and the hiccup connection.
Book Review: Awesome!
Summary: 5 Stars
Shubin barely mentions evolution -- not at all until page 160, I think -- and he spends no time on whether changes are random or somehow "guided". He simply delineates the HISTORY of life and anatomy, as revealed by fossils, DNA, and embryology. All this is the meat and bones of evolution, of course, but I've never seen the connections so clearly made, with so little recourse to "just so" stories. Truly, truly, a beautiful work.