I have to admit, when I started this chapter, I was fairly confused as to what was going on and how the nerves were important in learning about our inner fish. I completely empathized with Shubin about the fact that it was really hard to distinguish the facial and trigeminal nerves, and I wasn't really thinking about the connections between embryos and the nerves as I got farther into the chapter. After this, when he starts delving into information about the way a head develops, I was thinking, "How will all this come together?"
I really like how after I got into the chapter, I understood the nerves because of the discussion of the 4 archs. I have to admit, I wouldn't have truly understood the beginning of this chapter if it hadn't been for the diagrams.
I shouldn't have been surprised when I read about the connection between a human embryo and a shark embryo, but I was very shocked at how similar they look! When I read, "Virtually all our nerves are present in sharks" (92), I was surprised that we share the same nerves, but they don't make us do exactly the same thing.
Overall, I thought that it was a lot of discussion about our heads, but the information was tied together very well. Especially at the end. It's surprising to know we even have something in common with a headless worm. Now I wish Shubin included more information about Amphioxus, because that little worm sounds very strange, but interesting at the same time...
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That is so true , without the diagrams I wouldn't have known what was going on in the beginning. It was cool to see the images though, it all made sense after that. :)
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