Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
Language: English
Published by Simon & Schuster, 2020
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller, New Castle, CO, U.S.A.Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller
AbeBooks seller since March 19, 2001
Condition: Used - As new
£ 17.90
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
A part-memoir, part-biography, and part-science adventure that explores the human quest for meaning and order in a fundamentally chaotic universe. Author Lulu Miller intertwines the life of a pioneering, yet flawed, 19th-century taxonomist with her own personal struggles to question the nature of certainty, the illusion of categories, and how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.
Seller Inventory # SKU2020027933
- Title
- Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
- Author
- Miller, Lulu
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster
- Publication year
- 2020
- Condition
- As New
- Dust jacket
- Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1501160273
- ISBN 13
- 9781501160271
- Item weight
- 14 ounces
- Dimensions
- 5x0x8
- Seller catalogs
- Natural History
A “remarkable” (Los Angeles Times), “seductive” (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, 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 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 that 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 is a wondrous fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.
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About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller
New Castle, CO, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since March 19, 2001
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| Item | 6 to 10 business days | 3 to 7 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 4.77 | £ 8.29 |
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Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller
CO, U.S.A.
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