Touch My Body

This was by far the most interesting chapter Shubin has produced. This book divulged into the creation of the complex structure that is the body; however, it put this complicated process in simpler terms. Shubin also makes a lot of elucidative references to presently existing primitive organisms. These examples are extremely helpful in understanding this material. I actually enjoyed reading this chapter.

'At first, they crawled around on the surface of the dish. Then, something surprising happened: the cells came together" (131). Ill admit that the nerd in me came out at this very instant. This quote left me agape. The idea that this organism came together to form a more complex being is fascinating. In addition, the idea that our bodies came about due to predation is extremey captivating, and the experiment that showed the cells fuse into a bigger mass to avoid engulfment was extremely helpful in understanding all of this material.

Finally, making the big connection between sponges and man was the cherry on top of a very rich informative cake. The idea that sponges are just a much more simple version of man was humbling. They have rivets just like man, and they have collagen and cartillage. I really enjoyed learning about rivets, and how our bodies communicate to make sure that they connect with the right cells to form the right organ.

Hopefully, Shubin hasn't exhausted his interesting topics, this might be a hard chapter to beat.