Ch 1: Finding Your Inner Fish

The author, Neil Shubin, has a unique way of writing. I feel like I was actually present there and feeling the same frustration he was when he didn't find the right type of fossils which showed how fish and land-animals were connected. He writes really freely and bluntly writes what he was feeling and thinking at the moment. Yes, in the beginning I was like: Not another book on evolution. But this book is very unique. I thought that discovering fossils wasn't that hard but Shubin describes it otherwise. Discovering fossils has a lot of planning and steps you have to follow. I found this chapter really interesting because it is very straightforward. In this chapter it mentions that a creature with a head and two eyes is a member of the "Everythings." Also another group is "Everything with limbs." These group names are easy to remember and very straightforward. I also found it interesting that biology, geochemistry, and geology all fit into paleontology. These subjects pay a big role in paleontology. I never knew that fossils can only be preserved in sedimentary rocks. I found it interesting to discover that you can find out how the environment was during a certain time period through the discovery of a fossil embedded in a certain type of rock (sedimentary). This chapter has proved to be very interesting and informal which makes me want to continue reading. I also found it funny that sometimes scientists choose a name because it is easier to pronounce like how Shubin chose the scientific name Tiktaalik (large freshwater fish) instead of Siksagiaq because it was easier to pronounce. Overall, this chapter has been worthwhile to read.