Let's Do Science!

Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum by Richard Fortey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Richard Fortey peppers his description of the behind-the-scenes views of the Natural History Museum with salacious gossip about the past denizens.  Apparently, scientists are not immune to the amorous arts.  Who'd've thought?! Historically, the museum changed from being run by the elite in scientific fields and wealthy dilettantes to bean counters.  These days its all about how your research can aid commerce or agriculture and there is precious little science for its own sake.  Scientists around the world can't keep up with species yet to be cataloged, some that are only interesting for their own sake and some that may provide medical value.  Fortey is lucky to have done his trilobite research back when research was an end in itself. 

Statue of Darwin overseeing the entrance hall to the Natural History Museum -
from our trip to London (see other photos from my Flickr set).

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Getting in Touch With My Inner Fish

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Shubin uses his simplest prose to point out what science has shown to be glaringly obvious: you have an inner fish ... AND an inner worm (well, let's just say we've all noticed the worm). I adored this book. Mine was the Kindle edition. I only wish the illustrations were a bit more legible (putting on the old reading glasses helped the majority of the time).

What did I learn? That the anatomy found on earth uses the same old pieces of the pie over and over again, just reshapes them to new use. Gill slits become inner ear bits, etc. ... The convolutions in our abdomens are millions of years of reorienting other bits.

Our evolution is written in our very bodies and footnoted by all the other species that went their separate ways.

Bah! I put it badly. Read the book!


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Just like a fish, I have a top, a bottom (hee, I said "bottom"), two sides, two eyes, a mouth ... etc.