Add free shipping to your order with these great books
Why Fish Don't Exist : A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life - Lulu Miller

Why Fish Don't Exist

A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

By: Lulu Miller

Paperback | 6 April 2021

At a Glance

Paperback


$33.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $8.31 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

A Best Book of 2020: The Washington Post * NPR * Chicago Tribune * Smithsonian

A "remarkable" (Los Angeles Times), "seductive" (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, Why Fish Don't Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and-possibly-even murder.?

"At one point, Miller dives into the ocean into a school of fishcomes up for air, and realizes she's in love. That's how I felt: Her book took me to strange depths I never imagined, and I was smitten." -The New York Times Book Review

David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake-which sent more than a thousand discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life's work was shattered.

Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish that he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.

When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool-a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.

Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don't Exist is a wondrous fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.

More in Wildlife & Aquatic Creatures

Shark : The Illustrated Biography - Daniel Abel

RRP $49.99

$40.75

18%
OFF
Swainston's Fishes of Australia : The complete illustrated guide - Roger Swainston
Moby Dick : Collins Classics - Herman Melville

RRP $9.99

$9.95

Florida Natural Springs : A History - Holly Sprinkle
Tadpoles of South Eastern Australia : A Guide with Keys - Marion Anstis
Trees of Australia : Green Guide : Green Guide - Peter Krish
Shapeshifters : The Wondrous World of Jellyfish - Lisa-ann Gershwin

RRP $70.00

$52.25

25%
OFF
The Catch : Australia's love affair with fishing - Anna Clark

RRP $32.99

$26.95

18%
OFF
Sea Wonders : The Octopus, the Cuttlefish, and the Squid - Marco Colombo
Fishes of the Murray-Darling Basin - Mark Lintermans
The Ocean Speaks : A photographic journey of discovery and hope - Matt Porteous
The Science of the Ocean : The Secrets of the Seas Revealed - DK
The River : A Journey through the Murray-Darling Basin - Chris Hammer
Encyclopedia of Aquarium and Pond Fish : DK Pet Encyclopedias - David Alderton
Humpback Highway : Diving into the mysterious world of whales - Vanessa Pirotta
Other Minds : The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life - Peter Godfrey-Smith