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 fish…comes 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.
