Well at the beginning I was very overwhelmed with reading another book for my summer assignment. But I am actually glad that I got a chance to read this book because so far it's been very interesting. And I am happy that it's not like one of those boring and dull educational books, that only teach their lessons without entertaining the readers.
Chapter 1 of Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish has been quite engaing and enthralling. As many other people have posted, Shubin has done an outstanding job of using diction that is easy and clear for all age groups to comprehend. There are not many big words that confuse or trick the reader. I really like how there are many pictures in this book because it helps the reader visulize the places Shubin and his friends go to and the different fossils and creatures they discover. The pictures help the readers feel like they are also on this journey with Shubin and are experiencing the same difficulties as him while trying to discover new species. Lastly, the diagrams help show how the creature, "Tiktaalik" looks.
The discovery of the "Tiktaalik" was amazing because it's a combination of a fish and a land-living animal. I cannot believe that us humans are related to fish which is kind of strange because even Shubin said "fish and land-living animals differ in many respects" (pg.23). But at the same time this is a very interesting fact that I learned from this book. From reading this chapter I now appreciate and respect the work paleontologists do because their job is very time-consuming and requires a lot of effort. As Caroline Eskander mentioned, I found the end of the chapter also interesting when Shubin takes "Tiktaalik" to his son's preschool. I think it's wonderful for kids at such a young age to be able to learn about fossils and to distingish the fossil as a fish without having any knowledge in paleontology. This illustrates that the new discovery will also be revelant for children.
I cannot wait to read the next chapters and see what Shubin has in store for us!
-Sasha Kapoor :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sasha, I agree that the Tiktaalik was really interesting. It captured the reader. But that name seems very very familiar, Maybe becuse it came out when we were in sixth grade. :)))
ReplyDelete