WHY FISH DONT EXIST

White superiority seems dated, but in the era of ultra right fanaticism and neo-Nazis' rising from the ashes it is just as relevant as a century ago.

This is a jewel of a book. Deceptively full of wisdom and insight into human nature, and what it means that we are always attempting to categorize reality. Delightfully written, and completely enjoyable. Also well done that the writer does not reveal her hand too quickly.

It's hard to describe this book. It's part biography, memoir and dabbles in science reporting as well. Lulu Miller made me laugh and moved me to tears in Why Fish Don't Exist.

I thought this book was about the entropic tendencies of life, and would help the reader shape a new perspective: one where everything is supposed to break/fall apart/ go bad, because the universe is not against you it is just entropy at work. I found a lot of comfort in this simple idea. Unfortunately the book is not about this idea. The author repeats researched stories a number of times while sliding in the buzzword ‘chaos’ whenever she thinks it has been too long. In reality I am not sure she had ever looked up the definition of chaos. Finally the author provides judgement of the main researched character of her book, who lived over 100 years ago, but of course should be judged with the smugness as if they lived today, and the world had not drastically changed in that time.

Why Fish Don’t Exist; as mentioned above in one of the longest write-ups I have read for such a small book, is a book from the NPR reporter Lulu Miller on David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist who was also the first Chancellor of the Stanford University in California, US.The book starts by simultaneously describing her own personal crisis and then introducing David Starr Jordan, a man born during the mid-19th century in the state of New York, who was highly interesting in observing an understanding nature during his childhood. Considering the author’s personal crisis, she wanted to seek inspiration from the life of David Starr Jordan, whom despite his circumstances, had immense levels of confidence and on the face of any crisis, looked for a solution to make the solution better. However, the more she learned about him, the more she learned of a dark side to his personality and the consequences of his actions.I was initially apprehensive about the book considering I had heard of David Jordan, who was the first Chancellor of Stanford University and also an early proponent of eugenics. However, these fears did not last long as the writer explored all sides to him and it did not lead to unnecessary levels of glorification and in fact, quite the opposite.The book did seem directionless in the initial phases and left me confused if the objective was to talk about herself or if this was a biography of David Starr Jordan. Portraying him as someone beating the odds did not sit well with me considering he seemed very successful at quite a young age. But as it went, I enjoyed reading the book, especially the latter half, where we learn a lot of dark aspects which most are unaware of – like the forced sterilisation programmes that were carried out in the United States inspired by scientists like Jordan.The author also brought about her disillusionment over David Jordan very well, considering his work often involved exploiting the locals in Japan or Polynesia without giving them credit for the ‘discovery’ of the fish, a murder allegation against him, etc.The ending justified the title and was also powerful as the author figures her own way to deal with her personal crisis. And I need to mention here that I loved the illustrations by Kate Samworth at the beginning of every chapter.On that note, I would say that the book was an enjoyable read – has a beautiful cover and good illustrations, to add to the reading experience. Would recommend it as a light read (which deals with a lot of heavy topics) and on that note, I would award the book a rating of four on five.