Your Inner Fish

A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

By: Neil Shubin

Narrated by: Marc Cashman

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Why do we look the way we do? What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Are breasts, sweat glands, and scales connected in some way? To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today’s most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.

Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik - the “missing link” that made headlines around the world in April 2006 - tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. By examining fossils and DNA, Shubin shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our head is organized like that of a long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look and function like those of worms and bacteria.

Shubin makes us see ourselves and our world in a completely new light.

Your Inner Fish is science writing at its finest - enlightening, accessible, and told with irresistible enthusiasm.

©2008 Neil Shubin (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

“A delightful introduction to our skeletal structure, viscera and other vital parts - and evidence that learning the secrets of the human body need not unhinge you. ...[Shubin] is a warm and disarming guide....Future researchers, aware that the ingredients of our evolutionary precursors are part of the human recipe, may well find new ways to prevent the wear and tear on our fish-begotten bodies. And who knows? Maybe one or two of them will have had their first taste of the marvels of human evolution in Neil Shubin’s anatomy class.” (Los Angeles Times)

“The antievolution crowd is always asking where the missing links in the descent of man are. Well, paleontologist Shubin actually discovered one....A crackerjack comparative anatomist, he uses his find to launch a voyage of discovery about the evolutionary evidence we can readily see at hand....Shubin relays all this exciting evidence and reasoning so clearly that no general-interest library should be without this book.” (Booklist, starred review)

“With infectious enthusiasm, unfailing clarity, and laugh-out-loud humor, Neil Shubin has created a book on paleontology, genetics, genomics, and anatomy that is almost impossible to put down. In telling the story of why we are who we are, Shubin does more than show us our inner fish; he awakens and excites the inner scientist in us all.” (Pauline Chen, author of Final Exam)

Listen for the Big Picture

Glad I persevered with this one! Draws a oneness between all living things. Beautifully written.

Not to be missed!

Where does Your Inner Fish rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

can't say

What other book might you compare Your Inner Fish to and why?

shubin's other book---universe within

What does Marc Cashman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

excellent reading style with right pauses and emphases

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

narrator understands shubin's humour .

Any additional comments?

no

Informative, interesting, not 100% entertaining

The book was certainly informative, though it lacked the profundity or narrative of some other non-fiction works (ie. the Selfish Gene, Viral Storm). I certainly learned a lot anatomically, but I never truly felt "hooked." Nonetheless, I would recommend this to anyone new to (or even well-versed in) evolutionary biology. It was certainly worth the listen.

Recommended further reading - Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

Good material, dry recital.

The text itself is very interesting, a look at our evolutionary history through other creatures and the fossil record. It's written in a style so as to be accessable and interesting, with many anecdotes and personal experiences littered throughout.

The narration is technically proficient, never hard to understand or confused. But, while the book itself tries hard to inform without being a textbook, the narration is dry and emotionless, greatly diluting that strength. The narrator infused as much emotion to where the book is rueful, excited, or "choked up" as it did where it described the mechanics of experiments.

5 stars!

Excellent story of one mans search for a fish! and so much more. loved this book and all the information and scientific discoveries that help us better understand evolution and how we are the way we are today. Narration was good, could have been better.

Be entertained and educated

Worthwhile! Great information, some of it above the average education level but not so pedantic as to be incomprehensible. Lots of information. Made me take a second look at the history of bodies. Good read.

a poetic view of the past

a first hand narrative of how tiktaalik, an important missing link between fish and land animals, was discovered is the background for showing how humans evolved. Shubin puts paleontology, embryology, cell biology and genetics to work together in showing how every living creature is inhabited by an inner zoo of ancestors.

very good book and learning experience

this book gave great explanations and examples as to how we're came from fish and other creatures. dentist l definitely worth the read!

A great book on human evolution

Not too long, not too short. This is a book that should be read by everybody. For many who listen this will be profound. The narration was a little slow so I had to speed it up. That was my only feedback for improvement.

I loved this book. Not a normal commentary

I was worried this would be another boring Summer reading assignment for AP Bio, but this is now one of my favorite books!