A wondrous debut from an extraordinary new voice in nonfiction, Why Fish Don't Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder. David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world.

What is why fish don't exist about?

“Why Fish Don't Exist” tells her own story—how an atheist scientist's daughter, dismayed by the idea of a senseless universe, shattered by the end of a long-term relationship (with a curly-haired man who “smelled like cinnamon”), became obsessed with a long-dead, super-confident collector of dead fish, one who, in her ...

Is why fish don't exist a true story?

'Why Fish Don't Exist' Allows For Taking Lessons From Inspiration, Despite Complexity Former NPR journalist Lulu Miller was inspired by a scientist who started again when his life's work was destroyed. Now, she writes about what she can take from his story, even when it's not all good.