Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

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

rin_dawg's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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msavaiano's review

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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craftysnailtail's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

A challenging read, but also an important one. A story that ended up being about topics that I never would've expected based on the synopsis. Many of those topics were heavy and difficult, but I appreciated the way Miller wove them together. The novel felt raw and human in a way that really stuck with me, which was especially surprising with it being non fiction. Also loved how the audiobook ended.

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confuzzledsheep's review

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reflective medium-paced

3.5

If you are not a biologist, or even yet a Taxonomist, and want to reflect deeply on one's own sadness in the story of the author and David Starr Jordan, then this may be helpful for you. As a depressed biologist who's been long disillusioned with the myth of a Sole Genius Scientist and has already had many of the discussions within this book, I will rate it as passing. I found this book lacking in detail on David Starr Jordans life that I expected it to have- furter discussion of the problems with the Holotype model of taxonomy, the sheer brutality of scientific discovery during the time period. This book touches on those, but never gets as deep as it could.

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notmeganyoung's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.75

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satsumaorange's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

5.0

Oh lord, this is the book I needed to read at this point in my life. Miller walks you through a journey out of hopelessness, out of meaninglessless, out of loss. The road of this journey is extensively scientific, relentlessly analytical, and reverent of the world around us. I was brought to tears many many times throughout this book, both from personal experiences with losing love, and from that near-universal human experience of wondering "What's the point of it all?"
Miller brings scientific history, philosophy, and the remarkable life of David Starr Jordan together to restore hope in a life well-lived on this humble planet of ours. She encourages curiosity, wonder, and critical thinking as the antidote for the all-encompassing existential dread.
This was definitely one of the best books I read in 2023. It came to me exactly when I needed it. It might not be for everyone, if your brain doesn't work in the analytical way mine does, but I truly enjoyed the journey.

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