Upon my completion of Your Inner Fish, I can honestly say I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to many others to read. The manner that Dr. Shubin wrote, made it so I could easily relate the ideas written to what I have previously learned. I was able to understand his thought process and the connections Shubin made and found them fascinating and intriguing. The one thing I was not a fan of was the negativity that came into play near the end of his book. I guess in a way Dr. Shubin was not being negative but only telling the truth of the human body. He spoke of the issues and negative aspects that have developed through the evolution of humans. The list he gave was nowhere near complete, which in my mind is unsettling. Such is completely understandable and logical, however I would have wished the conclusion had focused more on summarizing the amazing and positive aspects of the human body that have come to be from the original fossil, Tiktaalik, that he found. I suppose my opinions are conflicted. I wrote that I wish it was more positive and focused on our accomplishments, yet that was evident in previous areas of his book. I also understand that the human body has many aspects that seem to be ridiculous in their formation and function, which was also evident in his book. Overall, I understand why Dr. Shubin concluded the book in this manner despite my wanting it to have been slightly different, but life is not perfect and neither is our body.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Week 5: Last thoughts
Upon my completion of Your Inner Fish, I can honestly say I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to many others to read. The manner that Dr. Shubin wrote, made it so I could easily relate the ideas written to what I have previously learned. I was able to understand his thought process and the connections Shubin made and found them fascinating and intriguing. The one thing I was not a fan of was the negativity that came into play near the end of his book. I guess in a way Dr. Shubin was not being negative but only telling the truth of the human body. He spoke of the issues and negative aspects that have developed through the evolution of humans. The list he gave was nowhere near complete, which in my mind is unsettling. Such is completely understandable and logical, however I would have wished the conclusion had focused more on summarizing the amazing and positive aspects of the human body that have come to be from the original fossil, Tiktaalik, that he found. I suppose my opinions are conflicted. I wrote that I wish it was more positive and focused on our accomplishments, yet that was evident in previous areas of his book. I also understand that the human body has many aspects that seem to be ridiculous in their formation and function, which was also evident in his book. Overall, I understand why Dr. Shubin concluded the book in this manner despite my wanting it to have been slightly different, but life is not perfect and neither is our body.
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Hi Leah. If I remember correctly, this book was my second choice after Paleofantasy, so I am surprised that you found so much negativity in terms of his presentation of information. Just from reading your post and having background knowledge on the misconceptions associated with evolution, I wonder if he may have presented such a harsh outlook in order to contradict the belief that humans are the pinnacle of evolution. Maybe by revealing all of the faults, he is showing readers that it isn't possible for humans to be at the "top of the pyramid" so to speak. I could be reading into this completely wrong but just a thought.
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