View Full Version : Your Inner Fish
I bought Neil Shubin's book when it came out last year but I have to shamefacedly confess that I've only just got round to reading it.
It really is a wonderful book, which IMO is up there with The Double Helix for conveying the sheer excitement of doing science and making discoveries. It's beautifully written and structured and also very simple. I am wondering whether it might have any chance of convincing a fundie that evolution is true.
Zygote
02 Nov 2009, 12:16 AM
Hmmmm. Maybe I'll give it to my brother for Christmas. He can be a test case. :evil:
It looks too good to waste, though, so maybe it'll go to someone in my immediate family, someone close enough to borrow from.
Ray Moscow
02 Nov 2009, 05:35 AM
It's a really good book.
Since Shubin doesn't seem intent on "proving" evolution but just explaining how it helps explain so much about us, it might indeed help convince a reader of the TOE's validity.
Valheru
02 Nov 2009, 07:07 AM
Why waste the book on a fundie? Rather give it to someone who would appreciate it.
Yes. I am going to get multiple copies (particularly since it is now available in paperback) as Xmas prezzies. I love his approach. I am planning to give it to a friend of mine who is an academic vet teaching and researching at a British university. She did an extra degree in anatomy alongside a whole lot of medics and came out top, but I bet she hasn't come across this way of looking at anatomy. It really is quite an achievement to make anatomy that fascinating.
David B
02 Nov 2009, 12:45 PM
Got it from library this morning.
Not got far, but nice simple style.
David
BioBeing
02 Nov 2009, 05:56 PM
I read it with my son (he was 9 then). I think he got something from it. We saw Tiktaalic (or, at least a replica) in the Field Museum in Chicago this past summer.
boba123
01 Dec 2009, 03:01 PM
I enjoyed the read also. Of great interest to me is how Shubin is able to predict where to find Tiktaalic and then finds the fossil. This demonstrates the predictability of the ToE as compared to the non-predictability of the Hypothesis of Intelligent Design (HoID).
lpetrich
31 Dec 2009, 09:28 AM
Neil Shubin has released the illustrations of his book in PowerPoint files; you can get them in Your Inner Fish: Teaching Tools (http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/book-tools.html). You can see all the illustrations in thumbnail form on that page, so you can see what you'll be getting in those files.
You won't need the latest version of PowerPoint to view these files. I've used without any trouble:
The 2001 OSX version of PowerPoint
Apple iWork Keynote
OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org/) -- open source and $0.00 in cost; you can download it from its home site
Thanx to PZ Myers for mentioning this release in Teaching Your Inner Fish (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/teaching_your_inner_fish.php).
They may not go far in comparative anatomy, but they do give a nice start. I'm a bit annoyed that popularizations of evolution don't do more on comparative anatomy -- it makes for a lot of pretty pictures and it does not require much of a technical background to understand.
The illustrator who created several of those drawings is Kalliopi Monoyios (http://www.kalliopimonoyios.com/); she has also created illustrations for Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution Is True.
Ray Moscow
31 Dec 2009, 11:35 AM
Also, Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True (http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/self-promotion-paperback-of-weiton-amazon/)is about to come out in paperback. It's just a real treasure, too.
munnki
31 Dec 2009, 12:45 PM
I'm going to use this in the classroom. Thanks for posting this stuff... Great!
Ray Moscow
31 Dec 2009, 12:51 PM
Also, keep an eye on our "Evolution Resources" thread above, where we try to link useful stuff.
The "Inner Fish" slides were already posted there by yours truly.
Zygote
31 Dec 2009, 03:59 PM
I gave Your Inner Fish to my nephew, son of my born again brother. The nephew wants to go into biochemistry, so I figured a science book wasn't out of line. He kept poking his nose back into it after he opened it and seemed really pleased. He's sharing an apartment with his brother, who I know has found reason. (It is even possible that my brother's wholesale swallowing of the bible didn't completely overcome his early scientific education. God wasn't mentioned once in 6 hours at our family Christmas.)
Sounds like progress, Zygote!
Jet Black
03 Jan 2010, 08:49 PM
Just reading it at the moment. Nice book but a bit low level for me. There is quite a bit of nice stuff on some of the fossils though.
fish with teeth for a skull was cool.
What I think is good about it is the enthusiasm he communicates. And it makes anatomy look glamorous. Quite a feat IMO. I also like the way it highlights the predictive power of ToE.
Sam Hunter
05 Jan 2010, 05:49 AM
I was given Your Inner Fish for Christmas. Not far into it yet but it's very good. Clear explanations and he conveys his enthusiasm well. Good stuff!
Oolon Colluphid
05 Jan 2010, 03:39 PM
It didn't tell me much I hadn't already read / heard before, but it's always nice to have a refresher. I'd say it's probably the best book to give to an evolution sceptic (as opposed to those not even Heineken could reach) I've yet come across, for the enthusiasm and way he moves so persuasively from details to the broader picture. In fact, highly recommended for anyone at the sub- Jet Black level.
Ray Moscow
06 Jan 2010, 09:39 AM
It didn't tell me much I hadn't already read / heard before, but it's always nice to have a refresher. I'd say it's probably the best book to give to an evolution sceptic (as opposed to those not even Heineken could reach) I've yet come across, for the enthusiasm and way he moves so persuasively from details to the broader picture. In fact, highly recommended for anyone at the sub- Jet Black level.
In other words, practically everyone. :)
Oolon Colluphid
06 Jan 2010, 11:35 AM
In other words, practically everyone. :)
;) :D
I am slowly making my way in an on and off fashion though Dawkins's book TGSOE. I have hardly learned anything I didn't already know, but IMO it's still a useful read. There is RD's amazing elegance and clarity of expression and he sometimes looks at things from a different direction from where I might have approached things. It is the synthesis that I find so appealing rather than the simple facts.
I had similar feelings about YIF. It reminded me of reading The Double Helix when it came out. I didn't end up being an expert in biochemistry, but I picked up the challenge and excitement of doing science.
Ray Moscow
06 Jan 2010, 02:31 PM
Although I really like Dawkins' books, including TGSOE, Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution Is True is just as good. Get a copy if you haven't already.
Ray Moscow
07 Jan 2010, 02:44 PM
I think Shubin will need to revise Your Inner Fish a bit after reviewing Per's latest tetrapod evolution paper (http://secularcafe.org/showthread.php?t=4745). It appears that Tiktaalik might not be so close to our ancestral line after all (although I don't think it was ever claimed to be more than something akin to that ancestor), although it is still an extremely important find and a triumph of good science work.
I think Shubin will need to revise Your Inner Fish a bit after reviewing Per's latest tetrapod evolution paper (http://secularcafe.org/showthread.php?t=4745). It appears that Tiktaalik might not be so close to our ancestral line after all (although I don't think it was ever claimed to be more than something akin to that ancestor), although it is still an extremely important find and a triumph of good science work.
Looks like it. But this is one of the really good things about science, and one that fundies will never understand. They think it's a weakness.
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