Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

The first half was excellent, I felt connected to the narrator and to the subject. But a bit over halfway through, they finally mention how the subject was a nasty, NASTY eugenicist, like the "put disabled people in camps" kind. 100% lost all sympathy for them, and annoyed at the narrator for not being more forthcoming with this "detail" (big fucking deal) about their character.

Content Warnings

jcstokes95's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

kaeschwalber's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

5.0

Let this book take you on a journey and trust you are in good hands, research may ruin the surprise this book offers.

Content Warnings

merbie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

Content Warnings

christina_ro's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

andreaah's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

One of the few books that has made me cry in public

when she interviews the victims of forced sterilization

Well handled overall
Can’t recommend enough, especially to anyone who enjoys the natural world or science in general

Content Warnings

jillyclaire23's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

5.0

I’m speechless. Wow. I love the logic of this book. It’s a beautiful long essay allegedly about fish but actually about finding purpose and meaning in life. Definitely a heavy read but ultimately so realistically hopeful. It is so lush and full of facts - not just a bunch of generic motivational cliches, which I appreciate. The twists and suspenseful writing kept me intrigued. Such a rewarding read. The thesis the author comes to at the end is so beautiful it made me tear up!

Content Warnings

More...