Your Inner Fish
A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
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4.3 • 128개의 평가
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- US$12.99
출판사 설명
The paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells a “compelling scientific adventure story that will change forever how you understand what it means to be human” (Oliver Sacks).
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fish paleontologist Shubin illuminates the subject of evolution with humor and clarity in this compelling look at how the human body evolved into its present state. Parsing the millennia-old genetic history of the human form is a natural project for Shubin, who chairs the department of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago and was co-discoverer of Tiktaalik, a 375-million-year-old fossil fish whose flat skull and limbs, and finger, toe, ankle and wrist bones, provide a link between fish and the earliest land-dwelling creatures. Shubin moves smoothly through the anatomical spectrum, finding ancient precursors to human teeth in a 200-million-year-old fossil of the mouse-size "part animal, part reptile" tritheledont; he also notes cellular similarities between humans and sponges. Other fossils reveal the origins of our senses, from the eye to that "wonderful Rube Goldberg contraption" the ear. Shubin excels at explaining the science, making each discovery an adventure, whether it's a Pennsylvania roadcut or a stony outcrop beset by polar bears and howling Arctic winds. "I can imagine few things more beautiful or intellectually profound than finding the basis for our humanity... nestled inside some of the most humble creatures that ever lived," he writes, and curious readers are likely to agree. Illus.
사용자 리뷰
I'm Smarter!
Fascinating read. Slightly disappointed it wasn't longer.
HIGH 3
This was a really cool book. To start, the author is so likeable. His writing style is personable and he makes it hard not to be interested in some really in depth topics. He has lived a very interesting life and talks about it in a way that is very refreshing to read. On the content side, this book is stuffed full of interesting information. Although the book may seem very specific at first, this book provides so much background information for all of the science it references. This makes for a really interesting, informative and easy read.
If you are someone who has interest in paleontology, genetics, evolutionary science, or just science in general, this is a must read.
Excellent account of an extraordinary story
Shubin tells the story of how Darwin's theory of evolution allowed him to predict the most likely place to find the fossil of a fish that is the common ancestor of every 4 limbed animal that lives on land... and some that managed to find their way back to the sea. Discovered less than 250 miles from the north pole, and after years of searching, Shubin and his team found Tiktaalik. This book describes the path to discovery and the amazing revelations that this fossil has taught us about how all land animals evolved from this creature, 370 million years ago.