Ch.1 - Finding Your Inner Fish

Chapter 1 of Your Inner Fish was an interesting introduction that compelled me to read the rest of the book. As most of the other students have written, I think that this book is fun and easy to read with familiar words as well as visuals such as the pictures of the maps and diagrams that explain Shubin's thoughts. In addition, he has a conversational tone that is simple to follow that makes the book into a story of his accounts rather than a scientific novel. I like Shubin's passion in finding out about the past and discovering fossils and evidence to prove his questions and theories. He is very thorough with what he is talking about and give detailed explanations about the subject so that the reader will understand him and not get lost. One example is when he explains that he groups all the species into "Everythings" and "Everything with limbs" when he categorizes them.

Further along into the chapter, I found out that paleontology is not as simple as I thought and takes a long time to plan and find sites that possibly hold new discoveries. Also they have to provide their own funds and materials to support their trips which are very limited. Instead of searching wherever they liked, I learned that they choose their likely destination by a process of elimination. They research the spot that likely contain an abundant amount of fossils or has the finding that they are looking for. I thought it was interesting how the age and type of rock was very important in finding fossils.

Finally, the progress and eventual discovery of the wanted Tiktaalik was amazing. I think it was a miracle for Shubin and his crew to find exactly what they were looking for. But of course their discovery was a result of the long amounts of time and hard work that they put in. Although paleontology is not a field that I will pursue in, I think that it is an interesting career that holds many mysteries of the past. I admire the people that work in that area because it takes a lot of patience and research to do what they are doing. For me, it would be a frustrating job but I guess the results would be worth the effort. So far, this book has been splendid and I look forward to reading Chapter 2 to find what happens next.

- Helen Haan