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Your Inner Fish Book Review

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As a secular person who takes an interest in science, I have always been fascinated by the academic field of evolutionary biology. Because of this, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the book I chose to review is entitled Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Written by Neil Shubin, this piece aims to outline the origins of humanity, as well as present a plethora of compelling pieces of evidence for the theory of evolution. He does this by reviewing scientific discoveries in areas of comparative anatomy, genetics, and the examination of fossils. Interestingly enough, he also integrates some of the most basic senses that we possess, such as sight and smell. If read properly with an open mind, …show more content…

The author explains how to extract DNA from something using household goods that one can find in their kitchen, which is exactly what we did using strawberries. He used this as a catalyst to speak on how our DNA/genetics are directly related to our sense of smell, as the scents that we inhale react with particular proteins that are present in our noses. According to the author, cetaceans (marine mammals) have lost their senses of smell. While one would assume that their bodies would just readjust and revert back to having a genome that promoted effective water-based genes, that isn't the reality. They cannot smell at all! Interestingly enough, a lot of these same genes used for the sense of smell are present in a plethora of other animals. Although some interesting points such as this one were made in this chapter, I feel that this was the weakest chapter out of all of them. He doesn't seem to articulate himself as well as he did in the previous chapters, and it seems like an outlier compared to the rest of the book. I think the root of the reader's potential confusion for this chapter could be the fact that not all of us are as educated on the field of genetics as he is, and even though he attempted to explain it, it wasn't as thorough as it probably should have

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754 Words | 4 Pages

Ella Aerts Period 5 Your Inner Fish Discussion Answers Chapter 1 - Finding Your Inner Fish Neil and his colleagues focused on rocks from 375 million years ago because fossils from 360 million years ago were amphibians with necks and four legs. However rocks that are 380 million years old looked more like fish we know today, with fins and scale. So, it made sense that they would find the transitioning fossils in rocks that was 375 million years old.

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1334 Words | 6 Pages

The criticism may be true; however the book gives a universal view of the course of

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1592 Words | 7 Pages

The sequences of DNA that make us what we are and any other living things what they are. Neil tells us that his lab is divided into two parts. One to study fossils and one to study DNA and embryonic development. So, while Shubin was in the Arctic, another researcher in his lab was busy injected a form of Vitamin A into shark and skate embryos. They wanted to see how the limbs would know how to develop.

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458 Words | 2 Pages

I am reading “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W. D. Wetherell, and I am on page 3. So far this book is about a boy who falls in love a girl who lives next door. He takes the girl out on a boat ride to a concert but realizes that he forgot to take his fishing line off of the boat until a very large bass comes along and pulls on his line. He tries to hide the fish on the line, because he knows that Sheila does not like to fish so he’s trying to hide the evidence. In this journal I will be questioning and connecting.

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917 Words | 4 Pages

Antwone Fisher Memoir Essay Finding Fish is a story of a young, unloved boy growing up and overcoming all obstacles and hardships in order to become an amazing man. Antwone Quenton Fisher was born on August 3, 1959, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was born in a prison to Eva Mae Fisher and Eddie Elkins, who was killed before he was born. As a result of this, Antwone grew up in the foster system and he was placed in the unloving home of his foster parents, Mrs. Isabella Pickett and Reverend Ulysses Pickett.

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905 Words | 4 Pages

There is a common misconception about the field of paleontology. Many people believe it’s boring, that it’s irrelevant, and that it’s even a waste of time. However, as award winning paleontologist and author Neil Shubin argues in his novel, Your Inner Fish, the field of paleontology has the potential to change the way we view our bodies. Shubin rose to fame in the mid ‘00s after discovering a brand new fossil on the coast of Ellesmere Island. This fossil was of a creature that was part land animal and part fish, containing the flat head and joints of a land animal and the fins and webbing of a fish.

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367 Words | 2 Pages

To begin with, both Tan and Crutcher utilize characterization to pursue the shared theme, that a strong sense of self is crucial when under the pressure of the expectation of others. In “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan, Amy feels propelled to conform because she feels judged for not being “normal”. Tan states, “What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas” (2). Also, it’s obvious Amy was self-conscious about the Chinese style of cooking and in this sentence she’s self-conscious because she says, “For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, and a slim new American nose”(1). In the first quote, she was over thinking and doubting that Robert would not like “our shabby Chinese Christmas” though in the end she was correct about Robert

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613 Words | 3 Pages

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1156 Words | 5 Pages

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435 Words | 2 Pages

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1413 Words | 6 Pages

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2049 Words | 9 Pages

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