In Why Fish Don't Exist Lulu Miller tells the story of David Starr Jordan who was defined by his desire to make sense of the natural world and its order. Miller reflects on Jordan's life and understanding of nature as she contemplates how her own life and unraveled as she sought to make order of it.

I found this book to be beautifully sad as it works through the different ways in which humans try to make meaning out of life. I did find this a difficult read during the pandemic, so for readers who are at a sensitive point in their life this could be a challenging read. Miller's poignant writing makes it worthwhile and it is definitely a book I want to return to.

This book was rather interesting and while I was a bit blown away (especially after the ending), I’m not sure if I loved it.

As I said, I was blown away by the ending and the last 30-40% of the book really had me hooked, but until then, I was a little lost and confused. I found myself drifting off quite a bit.

Miller’s writing is beautiful and being able to transform science into literature effortlessly is no easy feat.

Lulu Miller writes with careful deliberation about the life of David Starr Jordan who is trying to classify and name fish he discovered in the late 1800's, he is a force of nature but his life spirals in ways that make you feel less for his accomplishments in taxonomy. He symbolizes that human are complicated and not always as they seem. I enjoyed her unusual take and would take up reading her next book, very good writing

There’s really no reason I shouldn’t have liked this book, as it hits so many of my buttons - pop science, intellectual history, obsessive archival research leading to weird results, memoir, overinvesting in one’s research subjects, traumatic family moments, a healthy disdain for eugenics, and some cute lesbianism to balance the less cute suicidality - but somehow the tone didn’t fully hold together for me. It is worth a try if you like large percentages of those things. I don’t know exactly what the genre term is for “this is a microhistory but also it’s really equally about the author and the process of how they came to care so much about this particular subject” but I think I’m going to call it the Trick Memoir. I love a good Trick Memoir but this one is simultaneously also trying to pull the “by the way, I’m going to toss in three other pieces of medium-form journalism so that you understand my topic is actually very wide-ranging with extreme current significance” move, and it just feels overbalanced. Also there’s something that feels a little grating and obvious about the authorial voice. If you listen to a bunch of NPR or are a fan of the less provocative Vice articles it is probably a good book to pick up. If getting halfway into a biography and then, oops, realizing the subject was a eugenicist all along and needs to be studiously dunked on about it for several chapters feels to you like a clever narrative reveal rather than weird authorial entrapment, same as above.

??? No clue why I thought I would like this book.

I also tried reading this book multiple times. I read that first chapter at least three times, but I couldn't get into it. It just wasn't for me. That's why I waited so long to write a review. I hate to be negative. about someone's hard work.

Fascinating read! Why Fish Don't Exist is fun to read with straight forward but funny and entertaining prose. But more, it will make you think. You will question some things that Miller writes; you will scratch your head at others. But you will reflect on it all. I loved this book I highly recommend it!

I read this as part of a book club, and while some of us liked it better than I did, the overall consensus was less than favorable. While interesting, it seemed a little too heavy with the science and the story seemed to take a back seat. While I was excited to read it, it definitely left me wanting more

“[I]t is our life’s work to mistrust our measures. Especially those about moral and metal standing. To remember that behind every ruler there is a ruler. To remember that a category is at best a proxy; at worst, a shackle.”
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Right at the corner of depth and whimsy sits Lulu Miller. Fans of NPR's Invisibilia will delight in this long-form nonfiction by that podcast’s co-creator, and those unfamiliar with her work have a treat coming when they discover her inimitable storytelling capability.
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Miller reaches her arms wide to tell the story of a scientist working more than a century ago and his quest to order the natural world, then brings the reader to small, intimate spaces as she relates his tale to her own rocky journey. She skates from tragic personal disclosures to flop house bathroom jokes; from the semantics of taxonomy to the ravages of a combusted relationship. There might be some possible murder thrown in, because the history of science is crazier than you thought. Keen humor and a facility with language keep the reader tethered through the dissolution of boundaries of both genre and the schema with which we understand the world.
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I cannot recommend this gem of a book enough to anyone who loves history or science (or stories about history or science), meditations on the unruly hand of chaos in our lives, or the tantalizing and thorny allure of categorization as a slipstream to meaning. And even if that all sounds like nonsense to you, know that I would still confidently place it before you, because every reader deserves to spend 200+ pages in the hands of a generous writer who’s in love with words and in perpetual awe of the world.
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“Is this weed a weed? Is this fish a fish? This, in a way, was one of Darwin’s lessons. To look at nature with humility, to consider the vast array of all you do not know, waiting just behind your assumptions.”
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I’d be remiss not to mention this book’s illustrations by @katesamworth —stunning & worth the cost of the book themselves. Thanks to @simonbooks for the dARC & HUGE ty to @runoutofpages for loaning her galleys of this book I was so psyched to pick up while I awaited @netgalley approval! Available now.

A glorious immersion into scientific chaos, history, biography and memoir. This engrossing read follows the story of David Starr Jordan, a scientist who "discovered", named, and categorized fully a quarter of the fish we recognize today. But it's much more than that. A study in depression, in self-awareness. A brief history of a pivotal time in scientific history spanning Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species through to the eugenics movement that stretched into the 1970s. And a cogent explanation of how little we actually know or understand about the natural world even today; ultimately a paean to Chaos and how the fact that we don't matter is what matters most of all. Highly recommended.

I wanted to read this book because I am a bit Lulu Miller fan - having listening to podcasts she's been working on for years. This book explores both the natural world and one man's determined path to create a taxonomy of the world's fish. This is not a book that follows a hero. David Starr Jordan is a (slight spoiler warning) racist who practiced eugenics. This book is as much about Miller's discoveries about herself as it is about Starr, which makes for a compelling read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Upon completion of reading this book, I have decided that it is more a story of self-psychoanalysis on Miller's part than anything I thought it was when I began the book. I also do not think that Lulu Miller's writing style is very commanding. All this aside, the story of David Starr Jordan I found fascinating. Early on, I wanted to root for him but as in real life (which is what I think Miller discovered) he was simply obsessive, self-aggrandizing, and turned into someone I would never want to meet. Ironically, the story reads chaotically. Despite this, I was still interested enough to find out more about Jordan and then about Swiss-born biologist, Louis Agassiz, and then Carrie Buck and eugenics. Although this was not a great read, parts here and there were enlightening, and the book has a great title and cover illustration.

✨A Study in Don’t Meet Your Heroes✨

TL;DR so you don’t have to listen to my gushing: this book is fantastic. If you love Radiolab or Sy Montgomery, order this book immediately.
(Also, thanks to #netgalley & #simonbooks for my #gifted eARC. I’m forever late, so I listened on audio instead)

On to the waxing poetic.

There’s something about stories like this that I can physically feel. It’s the opposite of how anxiety feels like I’m in the vacuum of space, an absence of air holding my throat in a vice. Stories like this, with words just so. They make me feel full. A sort of synesthesia that’s hopeful and bright.

The thing is: Lulu’s story isn’t one of happily ever afters. On its surface, this book, having read it twice now, shouldn’t make me feel this way. But what the story is, is chock full of wonder.

For podcast/radio fans, I liken it to early seasons of Radiolab or NPR’s Invisibilia, (not surprising since Lulu helped make those things). Those shows craft a story in such a way that is evident in this writing. You open with a story about one thing, but minute by minute, or in this case, chapter by chapter, you get the full picture. That story about one person isn’t what it seemed at first glance.

I don’t want to tell you what this story reveals about its characters of David Starr Jordan, taxonomist, and its author (nor the explanation of the title). The journey to the reveals adds so much weight to words that I won’t rob you of that. Lulu latches herself to this long-dead man, who she’s sure will show her the answers to optimism and hope through chaos. She keeps digging, keeps looking for answers, amazed with everything she learns along the way. But eventually she learns the tried and true lesson of “never meet your heroes.” And where do you go, after such loss? Karmic justice to the rescue.

It’s a story that’s the most comforting mixture of nature writing and biography — like those radio stories — with personal journey thrown in. And Lulu crafts it beautifully.
This is a story I know I will return to again and again — any time I need a reminder to fill my life with moments of wonder. Even when the answers aren’t what you want, the journey feels so great.

I was intrigued by the title and then by the blurb for this book. Chaos and finding your way out by following the story of a litle known scientist and his love of fish was a great vehicle for creating a book to make readers think.

At a time when Lulu Miller was looking for something to believe in, she learned about David Starr Jordan, a scientist who is known for discovering nearly a fifth of all fish known to humans during his day. After an earthquake destroyed 30 years of his life's work, instead of giving up, he immediately sat down to start over. Miller was intrigued by his story and inspired by his perseverance. But as she began to look into his history, she found there was a lot more to his story - and to fish, and to science, and to life - than she expected.

This book took me on a completely unexpected journey. I thought I was going to learn more about an interesting scientist, but instead, I ended up reexamining my understanding of life and place in the world. I think it's fair to be more upfront than the publisher blurb and say that David Starr Jordan was not a good man. Lulu Miller uncovered how Jordan's white supremacist ideology continues to harm people today. But his story is really only a jumping off point for this wonderful work of philosophy, science, and history. If you're looking for a book to completely change your perspective on fish, and through that, the universe, you must read Why Fish Don't Exist.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I wish there were more like it I did not know about Lulu Miller before reading this but will seek out much more from her now . The exploration of ourselves is intriguing and sometimes dark. but keeps you thinking long after you have finished the book.

I love natural history writing, but it often suffers from two major flaws. Either the author allows his or her story to overwhelm the narrative or, despite writing about the very things that make up life, the author plods on in pedantic prose. I am very happy to report Lulu Miller makes neither of these mistakes in “Why Fish Don’t Exist,” an exploration of the author’s journey into science writing alongside David Starr Jordan’s quest to order the ocean world. The writing here is positively lively; you can feel the author’s excitement. Here is a sample of the description you’ll find within: “And finally, there was the lovely lapping sea itself. A sapphire platter that offered endless riches—starfish, jellies, oysters, urchins, rays, horseshoe crabs, sea squirts, bioluminescence, and fish after glorious, slimy, shimmering fish.” I enjoyed learning about Starr and, even more, enjoyed getting drawn into a piece of nonfiction!

This book was a 3.5 for me. It is an offbeat account of Lulu Miller's research into the life of David Starr Jordan, a natural scientist, taxonomist, and the first president of Stanford, whose life experiences and choices took some incredibly bizarre turns. I won't get into details but - vague spoilers - Earthquakes! Poison! Betrayal! Eugenics! This was quite a wild ride.

As a reader with a family member who, like Jordan, studies primarily fish, I found this book absolutely fascinating but a little disappointing, in that I would have liked more scientific detail and a bit less editorializing. But that's not the point of this book. It is not a biography; rather, a book about the discovery of David Starr Jordan and how the author's own life experiences drove her investigation. I would recommend this book with the caution that is not very science-y, but very interesting!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC.

What a lovely book.

What an amazing blend of so many disparate ideas, historical facts, personal essays, and senses of wonder.

This is my favorite type of non-fiction. Take an obscure idea, and build around it a network of interesting facts, cultural thought, and tie it all together with flawless storytelling and a personal touch.

I just can't describe how much I enjoyed this book.

Lulu Miller's book "Why Fish Don't Exist" defies genre. It centers primarily around the life of a taxonomist named David Starr Jordan, known for naming close to a fifth of the known species of fish in the world today, a man Lulu has been fixated on for a long time. The book follows along his history, including multiple occasions when his fish specimens were destroyed, most notably by the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. While Jordan's life serves as a base for the book, it really is part memoir of Lulu's life, and the concept of chaos in the world. In some ways this mixture of genres maps nicely onto Miller's career most notably as a producer on RadioLab and a co-creator of Invisibilia, two podcasts that blend together science, history, philosophy, and personal trials and tribulations. Through Jordan's striving for order, issues of morality emerge (won't spoil), and chaos ultimately reigns supreme. Fans of Lulu's podcasting work will not be disappointed here. This is a fantastic debut book.

On the surface, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a biography of David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist who discovered and named about 20% of the fish known to man. Miller highlights his entire life: from naming stars to naming fish. Jordan was a revolutionary. That’s not to say he did not have his flaws—he had MANY. He was an early proponent of eugenics and encouraged the government to enact legislation that would allow for the legal sterilization of individuals deemed “unfit.” I’m not sure about you, but I didn’t know the US practiced eugenics before Hitler got the idea. He also may have murdered the founding mother of Stanford University, so you know, there’s that.

Remember when I said this book was a biography of David Starr Jordan? Yeah, that’s not all. It’s Miller’s memoir. It’s a reckoning with chaos. It’s a pondering of the meaning of life. David Starr Jordan’s entire life was dedicated to bringing order to the chaos of the world. Miller explains that she found Jordan during a particularly tough time in her life. She was drawn to this man who made sense of the chaos. She needed to know her chaos could be sorted. We’ve all been there; it feels like everything is falling around you and you’re forced to just sit and watch the destruction and all you want is to know you’ll make it out the other side. Eventually, Miller finds that organizing the world feels productive, but small boxes hide beauty. Taming the chaos leads to hidden complexity, dangerous practices (like eugenics), and missed opportunities. Why Fish Don’t Exist is a biography, a memoir, and a coming of age story. It is a beautiful treatise to letting go of our boxes and embracing the chaos.