Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

25 reviews

jebecky's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Death

christina_ro's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book ended up being nothing like I thought but everything it needed to be. It’s almost a simultaneous biography and autobiography plus numerous history and science lessons. I’m not the biggest fan of biographies generally, and I definitely thought this would be more more science, less people, but it really was a wonderful blend of both. Significantly darker at times than I ever would’ve guessed, I’d recommend looking at the trigger warnings before hand. While it isn’t graphic, it does cover some disturbing parts of American history and some harsh moments of the perspective of a very depressed person. However, most of the darker moments were wholly necessary, in my opinion. The writing is great and the tone is so engrossing for a nonfiction book. There was a distinct moment where I said out loud, “Oh this just took a turn!” And when asked if it was a good or bad one, I said, “Morally, a bad one. Entertainment wise, definitely a good one.” I have so many thoughts that I’ll wait to burden my book club with, but if I were to parabolize this story, I’d say, nothing matters and so everything matters. There is no grand scheme, so every person and creature and moment is meaningful.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Medical trauma

luckyonesoph's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.25

I really love this blend of popular science and memoir, and I appreciate the author's attention to problematic beliefs and theories that often underlie scientific discovery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Rape

greentearex's review against another edition

informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

Really enjoyed the audio book, you can tell by the delivery that the author worked/works for NPR. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

A lesson in embracing chaos/nihilism, and never meeting your heros

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

If you like reading about science and taxonomy, this would be a good book for you. If you’re loosely interested, maybe you would as well. I am not interested in these subjects but the way the author tied the subjects into her own story about life and how the universe is not as it seems… well I was interested to know why fish don’t exist. It was good book! Definitely not what I was expecting but it was enlightening and relaxing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

kathleendayle's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Animal death and Murder

confuzzledsheep's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

1.0

If you are not a biologist, or even yet a Taxonomist, and want to reflect deeply on one's own sadness in the story of the author and David Starr Jordan, then this may be helpful for you. As a depressed biologist who's been long disillusioned with the myth of a Sole Genius Scientist and has already had many of the discussions within this book, I will rate it as passing. I found this book lacking in detail on David Starr Jordans life that I expected it to have- furter discussion of the problems with the Holotype model of taxonomy, the sheer brutality of scientific discovery during the time period. This book touches on those, but never gets as deep as it could. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse

marchcrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Highly recommend the audiobook format of this book. Lulu Miller's expertise as a radio producer translates beautifully to the audio format. I listened to this on walks and took longer walks than usually just to keep listening. I cried, I laughed, I loved the people that wove throughout. The language is rich and beautiful, the story nuanced, the science sound (for now). Would recommend this to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

strawberrymoonceci's review against another edition

informative reflective

4.5

This was an incredibly interesting book. She paints such a vivid picture in all the scenes, even the ones she didn't witness. I was very curious about the name of the book, I was also curious about the importance of this taxonomist. It was a gripping read, fascinating really. The audiobook version is wonderful, and I found the little nugget included at the end so heartwarming. This definitely made me want to read more book about natural history.

I absolutely did not expect the plot twists to include murder and eugenics! I think it's very interesting how Robert Starr Jordan went from allegedly covering up a murder, feeling wracked with guilt about it, to making eugenics his new purpose in life. What an absolute monster. The book is a masterclass in how to write a villain. In the beginning you hear mostly praise for him, there are definitely criticisms but you can see the author choosing to focus in his great capacity for perseverance, only for it to take a dark change, and for him to end up being responsible for the death, torture and mutilation (amongs other things) of tens of thousands in the US alone. Also, the US was the first country to make eugenics into national law. Which is so interesting considering the national narrative about it role in WW2. Not the least surprising though. I am surprised at how engaging this book was, considering I didn't like the author at all. Her writing is great, but she did not pass the vibe check. Also, fish dont exist as a category, that's the answer to the title. And Robert Starr Jordan can suck on that!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Child death and Death

val_so_'s review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Classism