Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

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

22 reviews

greentearex's review against another edition

informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

Really enjoyed the audio book, you can tell by the delivery that the author worked/works for NPR. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Murder

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

A lesson in embracing chaos/nihilism, and never meeting your heros

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

kathleendayle's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Murder and Animal death

confuzzledsheep's review

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Ableism, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child death, and Child abuse

marchcrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Highly recommend the audiobook format of this book. Lulu Miller's expertise as a radio producer translates beautifully to the audio format. I listened to this on walks and took longer walks than usually just to keep listening. I cried, I laughed, I loved the people that wove throughout. The language is rich and beautiful, the story nuanced, the science sound (for now). Would recommend this to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization

strawberrymoonceci's review against another edition

informative reflective

4.5

This was an incredibly interesting book. She paints such a vivid picture in all the scenes, even the ones she didn't witness. I was very curious about the name of the book, I was also curious about the importance of this taxonomist. It was a gripping read, fascinating really. The audiobook version is wonderful, and I found the little nugget included at the end so heartwarming. This definitely made me want to read more book about natural history.

I absolutely did not expect the plot twists to include murder and eugenics! I think it's very interesting how Robert Starr Jordan went from allegedly covering up a murder, feeling wracked with guilt about it, to making eugenics his new purpose in life. What an absolute monster. The book is a masterclass in how to write a villain. In the beginning you hear mostly praise for him, there are definitely criticisms but you can see the author choosing to focus in his great capacity for perseverance, only for it to take a dark change, and for him to end up being responsible for the death, torture and mutilation (amongs other things) of tens of thousands in the US alone. Also, the US was the first country to make eugenics into national law. Which is so interesting considering the national narrative about it role in WW2. Not the least surprising though. I am surprised at how engaging this book was, considering I didn't like the author at all. Her writing is great, but she did not pass the vibe check. Also, fish dont exist as a category, that's the answer to the title. And Robert Starr Jordan can suck on that!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Torture, Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Rape, Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Infertility, and Medical trauma

Minor: Death and Child death

val_so_'s review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Murder, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Homophobia

Moderate: Confinement, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Xenophobia

susannah_knox's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book surprised me over and over again.  I don't know how the author pulled off making all the disparate elements cohere, but she did.  A moving, deep yet delightful quick read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Animal death, Medical trauma, and Murder

youngwessels's review

informative medium-paced

3.25

The chapters revolving around David Starr Jordan are a compelling look into a deeply troubled person’s experiences but the chapters revolving around Lulu Miller’s own life are just a sloggish look into a slightly less troubled person’s experiences.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, and Murder

killeenm's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

I LOVED this book. It’s pretty rare to find an author so talented that mixes biography, scientific journalism, and memoir so seamlessly. I didn’t know if I’d love it at the beginning; I thought the author was maybe coming from a perspective too different from mine. Turns out an atheist and a Catholic who doesn’t really believe that God has plans in their life might be coming from very similar places. Explored human relationships to the natural world, eugenics, psychology, taxonomy, disability, ableism, the purpose of life… I can’t recommend it enough. This book was absolutely masterful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt