Tu Inner Pescado - Chapter Cuatro

Teeth. At first, I thought of piranas. And how cool it was that smaller fish can eat bigger fish if they wanted to, all because we've always been taught that bigger fish eat smaller fish, who eat even smaller fish, and so on. And then Shubin went on to explain the complexity of animal diets and how their teeth differ because of it. And then I thought about humans, well, me, and thought that it was pretty darn cool that we are basically everything put together - having mashing teeth, and scissor teeth, and teeth in between. I liked how this chapter reinforced the bond that all of the living creatures on earth have, like in the first chapter. It made it equally clear to me that we all would be nowhere if it wasn't for fish and tiny mammals from the past.

I loved the description of Shubin's expeditions with his teams, and how he found nothing. I like that he found nothing because it makes me feel like even cool archaeologist people that have a major career still find nothing. And then they learn from the experience, and go on to find something greater than they expected to find in the first place. It's very real to me, and puts this book back into my perspective that it is written by a real person, and not a Monotone Marvin from some high class college trying to teach youngsters about human history.

This chapter answered a lot of questions for me, like how our teeth function, where they originated from, and how the heck they won't break against the food we eat. It also put into perspective for me why my dentist is being a fun-sucker and is not taking off my braces because my teeth aren't in the right place - it's because they would shatter, like Shubin said.

This was one of my favorite chapters because it helped clear up a lot of things that our teachers didn't cover in past classes. And also that rats aren't scary, but helpful creatures that possibly created the diversity of my teeth.

- Courtney Inbody