I personally like how Mr. Shubin starts the chapter by relating his experiences with cadavers, because he connects it to the very act of exhuming fossils out of the rocks--both meticulous processes. This section reveals to me his close-knit relationship with his field of paleontology. You can see that his fervor in paleontology spreads to anatomy; and that connection with other fields further illustrates the impact of his understanding that the fossils mean so much more than just mere bones. For his love of his studies, I am starting to respect him as a paleontologist and professor and person, and I would be interested to hear what he has to further prove his "inner fish" theories.
Also, I like how Mr. Shubin warrants the evolution theories by adding some "divine" touches by introducing Sir Charles Bell. According to Bell, "the structure of the hand was 'perfect' because it was complex and ideally arranged for the way we live" (Shubin 29). Sir Bell's theory that the perfect structure of humans come from a divine origin struck me clean--how does a fish with absolutely no hands suddenly develop "perfect" complex and ideal hands that fit every condition the world has to offer? Mr. Shubin's adventures with Tiktaalik reveal that fish developed the bones to crouch and push up/down to scout for prey, and he even provides geographical evidence along with different phases of bone development from different fossils. So Mr. Shubin is only showing us the subsequent phases of evolution from fish to mammal. I guess we just have to assume the fish form deformalities in bone structure which leads us the the deformed amphibian and the deformed mammal. So are we deformed with irregular bone structures or are we the "perfect" species from a "divine origin?"
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