Ch 1: Finding your inner fish

Although I am susceptible to sleeping when I am reading books, Your Inner Fish has played a qualitative role that caught my attention instantly to wash away my stereotypes of scientific books that speak in droning tones.

As I began reading a few pages of the book, I realized that this work is not just a typical lecture that is given by a professional in a daily basis. Neil Shubin's unconventional and critical statements impel one to wonder how humans' anatomy correlate to fish's physical structure. Although those two concepts are seemingly different and repelling like magnets on the same ends, Shubin explains that it is not the physical difference that distinguishes humans and fish. Before I had any contact with the book, I used to inquire myself questions about the theory of evolution. However, when this book came in a close contact with me, I started to ask myself where my real origin disregarding as if I were to be non-religious. This really hit me a lot, because I felt like I challenged my religion when the ideas that Shubin elicited sounded cohesively persuading which convinced me even more to continue on the reading that will take me to discover my inner fish.

The idea that caught my attention the most was when he begins to talk about his tools that can lead him to analyze all of the hidden aspects of paleontology. When I read the tools he listed out such as his laptop, I just did not remark about it, but I started to think paleontology was not just about digging for gold (fossils) according to Shubin. Moreover, when he mentioned that it is fortune that keeps paleontology recurring, I soon realized that although specific data has to be analyzed through specific and complex tools, if one were to be out of luck, no matter how advanced or intricate their tools were, paleontology just does not flow through one's plan and preparedness.

Consequently, this book has kept my eyes centered for the longest time for my leisure/school reading. I just really hope it continues on to distribute the same vitalities that kept me motivated to thoroughly read through chapter one.

-Sungwook Lim