Chapter 2

As I currently type this, my finger bones are all rapidly moving in perfectly synchronized pattern. Who'd of known that fish from YEARS ago would also be (almost) capable of the same thing? Thanks to fish like the Tiktaalik, we, humans, can text, type, and channel surf with the remote control. haha. In addition, we could also thank the Tiktaalik for wrists. Playing tennis, basketball or the piano is all possible because of our ancestor's development of wrists.
Before this chapter I was indifferent to the evolution and really couldn't understand the importance of where humans originated from. I believed that evolution was unnecessarily controversial. I still agree that evoultion sparks too much debate to ever be accepted by all; however, I do see the importance of the origin of mankind. There is several correlations between man and fish and Shubin's books helps understand and appreciate our origins. Our limbs such as our arms and legs originate from the fish. If we had originated from another species, evolution might have been different and may alter how we look like today.
Moving on, I was intrigued by Sir Richard Owen's idea that fundamental skeletal designs are all variations on a theme and the theme was the plan of the creator. Science and religion are debated today and evolution is overtly controversial. I respect Sir Owen because he was able to combine science with religion. Religious fanaticism often leads to blindness and ignorance to science. However, Owen was able to combine religion with science. I know this part is insignifcant to the plot and information of the book but I believed that it was the part that most clearly stood out to me.
Moving on to a lighter subject, the ending of this chapter was a cliff hanger. Shubin is in the lab dissecting a human hand and realizing that it resembles another "being." The use of the cliffhanger is creative and prevents the book from becoming too tedious to read. I appreciate Shubin's style of writing because it makes it easier and exciting to read.

-Jennifer Kim