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jcstokes95's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
In the past two years, bird watchers have been arguing about names. First, about whether the well-respected Audubon Society should keep its name despite broad knowledge that its namesake held slaves. Soon after this debate reached a fever pitch, in 2022, the American Ornithological Society announced it would begin renaming all birds named after people, due to the colonial implications.
All this is to say, Lulu Miller may have a damn point about scientists who love classifying things. Is it possible to categorize without hierarchizing. Or is naming just a precursor to oppression? Do we love order because it allows for security…the type of security we gain by subjugating others? These questions are at the heart of Miller’s winding work, part memoir, part science and part biography; I was dubious for the first third that this would knit together. But in the end, I feel Miller has built a web of connections across science and how we see the world.
With gorgeous prose, Miller introduces us to David Starr Jordan, his childhood curiosities, his adolescent passion for nature, and ultimately his rise to power that he used to advocate for killing people who he perceived as lesser than himself. You don’t see this coming right away; Miller knits it in like a twist. This structure for a book was interesting to me. Miller comes from the world of radio and podcasting. This story structure made me think a lot about the differences between how nonfiction books and podcasts are built. Podcasts have the detailed, storytelling hook and often drop a bomb mid show…to pull you in. However, in the book, I’m not sure this worked because for a long time I was unclear on Miller’s position. Which was…unsettling, because by the Stanford chapters, it’s clear he’s some kind of villain. By the end of the book, I was trying to find his grave so I could make sure to spit on it if it was ever in town.
Despite that doubt, you cannot deny this is a fucking compelling story. There are earthquakes, murders, societal evil and fish! (or are there?) By the second half, I was seated and ready to receive every damning portrait Miller painted of this man. A few months before this, for the first time in my life, I had learned of Buck vs. Bell, how it was still the law of the land. The gruesome details provided here of Starr Jordan and Priddy’s campaign to cleanse the country of the “unfit” is an indictment of a country that ate this garbage up and made it the doctrine we live by still.
---
That’s the end of my formal review, here are three other thoughts I had reading this book:
1. I’m glad you fucking hated Galesburg David. We hate you too. (The academic wing of Lombard College where he taught would eventually be absorbed by my college, Knox College). May the Illinois Prairie winds freeze you to fucking death again in hell!
2. Also, the religious arm of Lombard would eventually become Meadville Lombard Theological School, where many UU ministers attend. My own church’s reverend did an entire sermon on UU’s links to the eugenics movement (including Jordan) last year which was fascinating and widely based on Miller’s book. Almost every book published at the time by Jordan was published by UUs through Beacon Press. Terrifying to see how entrenched this movement was in a religion considered liberal minded, even at the time.
3. My senior capstone project for my literature degree was weirdly similarly focused to the themes in this book. The theme of the term was Bodies on Display and my paper focused on disability and how human’s categorize the other in Mantel’s The Giant O’Brien and I’m so mad I cannot find it on my laptop right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Rape
jjyork's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Child death and Death
meagan_young's review against another edition
5.0
The perfect mix of introspection and interesting biography. This was really well structured and paced. The second half of this book was wild! I think my mouth was literally hanging open when it got to the poison and eugenics sections. The eugenic portion was just shocking. This may be on my nonfiction favorites list now!
lindseythome's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
confusingoctopus's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Suicide
kteddycurr's review against another edition
2.5
I liked the content but not how it was told. I'm unclear what I was supposed to take away from this. The biography of David Star Jordan was interesting but with very wishy washy opinions, almost as if the author still doesn't know what to make of the story but doesn't want to admit it. There was some growth and intentional revealing of new information as it went, but I left thinking "ok so what did you then do with that." The personal stories were shallow, not in terms of what they were about but in terms of depth of material.
ramreadsagain's review against another edition
🐟 David Starr Jordan was a very successful fish taxonimist in the early 20th century. Despite multiple personal and professional tragedies, he was known for pushing ahead with a superhuman positive outlook. In search of his secret, Lulu investigates his life, but this is truly a tale of "never meet your heros" as she discovers what the basis for his belief system was and the lengths he went to uphold it.
🐟 This was entertaining, shocking, and enfuriating. I'm a zoologist by education so the fish content was particularly interesting to me - and it's true, fish don't exist! Some background knowledge of the history of taxonomy (and how ideas around evolution and how it works have changed) would definitely come in handy, but I do think this is perfectly readable for someone with little to no knowledge of the subject as the author does a great job of explaining key concepts.
🐟 There's actually quite an insane turn that this takes and a large part of the second half could be intensely triggering to some. There is very little build up to it so it could come as a shock, and I don't particularly like how it's treated as some sort of plot twist. I had a feeling that there would be a "racism" reveal as that was (and is) par for the course in old white biologists, but I didn't expect the book to actually end up focusing so much on the history and fallout of the eugenics movement. However, I think it made for a great read as I was starting to wonder how the rest of the book would be filled with a simple biography. I learnt a lot of shocking information particularly about how widespread forced sterilisation has been up until very recently (and likely is still around) and I liked how the author points out the logical fallacy that props up eugenic beliefs.
🐟 Overall a great read for me though and just good and interesting non fiction.
🐟 I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher.
🐟 This was entertaining, shocking, and enfuriating. I'm a zoologist by education so the fish content was particularly interesting to me - and it's true, fish don't exist! Some background knowledge of the history of taxonomy (and how ideas around evolution and how it works have changed) would definitely come in handy, but I do think this is perfectly readable for someone with little to no knowledge of the subject as the author does a great job of explaining key concepts.
🐟 There's actually quite an insane turn that this takes and a large part of the second half could be intensely triggering to some. There is very little build up to it so it could come as a shock, and I don't particularly like how it's treated as some sort of plot twist.
🐟 Overall a great read for me though and just good and interesting non fiction.
🐟 I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher.