Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

136 reviews

jlbutler's review

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

misha_ali's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This was informative, engaging, and a fantastic journey of discovery, both scientific and personal. When I started this book, I did not expect to be taken on a tour through the childhood of this young man who grew up to be a person most would categorize as a heroic figure, battling valiantly against science and nature to add order to chaos, only to end up breaking down the real-world harmful beliefs of this person. Lulu's own personal journey to find meaning is an engaging thread through the sometimes colder threads of science throughout this book and I love the way she's wrapped her own search for meaning into this book's research. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

chromatography's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

alpal2020's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective sad fast-paced

A fascinating story well told. The author intertwines her struggle to find meaning in life with the unwavering, unself-reflective confidence a pivotal scientist had in his.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Mental illness, and Racism

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

If you like reading about science and taxonomy, this would be a good book for you. If you’re loosely interested, maybe you would as well. I am not interested in these subjects but the way the author tied the subjects into her own story about life and how the universe is not as it seems… well I was interested to know why fish don’t exist. It was good book! Definitely not what I was expecting but it was enlightening and relaxing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Homophobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Ableism, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

garfguy7's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

this was wonderful. genuinely so INTERESTING - but yes, as a fan of radiolab i can say the pacing and tone was kind of an odd replica. there’s a bit of millennial humour but not enough to be noticeably annoying. i was captivated by the idea that fish don’t actually exist about a year ago, but didn’t delve into it. this book makes me want to pursue marine biology seriously. maybe i’ll have more to say about this later but i do wanna say: i think the author waited so long to reveal that jordan was a eugenicist to illustrate her point without giving us a bad preconceived notion about the guy. the point is that he engages in eugenics in a horrific attempt at controlling the “ladder” of supremacy as far as i can tell. it’s all about control and detrimental categorization, trying to make sense of things 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Rape, Ableism, Racism, Child abuse, and Infertility

Minor: Alcohol and Suicidal thoughts

cfinnigan's review

dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.5

What a beautiful book. We start with the author’s obsession with David Starr Jordan a naturalist responsable for cataloguing a fifth of the worlds fish. Miller is looking for hope in his story of perseverance when his collection is almost destroyed. Instead we find Jordan is no hero he probably murdered someone and fought for eugenics. Miller rises above him in every which way. Also fish do not exist as a biological group. Suck on it Jordan.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Suicidal thoughts

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I truly did not know what to expect with this book, but on the whole I thought it was a fine memoir/biography with a little bit of science sprinkled in. I don't think it's particularly mindblowing and I think it's definitely overhyped, but overall it was fine. I didn't know anything about David Star Jordan, and now know he was an awful eugenicist (and honestly odd to sort of have that be a Big Reveal when it's in the intro paragraph to his wikipedia page) who probably had Jane Stanford murdered for rightfully trying to get him to face consequences. The best parts of the book are Miller's interviews with survivors of the sterilization program and the bit about taxonomy at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Murder, and Racism

imogenclendinning's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Hate crime, Genocide, and Forced institutionalization

elliv's review

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts