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 ReviewDavid 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.
