BLACK HOLES AND TIME WARPS

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title> BLACK HOLES AND TIME WARPS | Kirkus Reviews </title><meta charset="utf-8" /><meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"><meta name="keywords" content="" /><meta name="description" content="In what seems an attempt to join the ranks of bestselling science writers like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, Thorne (Physics/Caltech) turns out a whopper covering everything from ``The Warping of Time and Space'' to ``Ripples of Curvature'' and ``Wormholes and Time Machines.'' Throughout, he remains resolutely chipper, chirpy, and personably anecdotal. The strange, folksy drawings here contribute to the effect of familiarity, which sometimes does its job and sometimes does not. It is undoubtedly useful to find yourself chatted through a potted history of 20th-century physics in so charming and lucid a manner: the problem, though, is to whom the volume is addressed. Hawking's book had plenty of theory, but it was short and elegantly elliptical, letting you think that you grasped its contents even if you didn't—a delusion that may lie at the heart of many a popular science book's success. Here, however, the reader has to wade through many, many pages of theory and diagrams—obvious to the expert but to difficult for the lay reader. Thorne in fact is strongest for the novice reader when dealing with the history of the physics community, which he presents entertainingly and clearly, allowing its peculiar personalities to emerge living and breathing—perhaps as much as a book of this kind can do within its audience's limiting parameters. Even so, in choosing a compact mini-encyclopedia of 20th- century physics, one could do far worse than this one, with its breadth of information even including exactly how it is that time does hook itself up to a wormhole." /><meta name="news_keywords" content=""/><meta name="facebook-domain-verification" content="xsygoj395zkepbhzqfobzjogu71za5" /><meta name="robots" content="index,follow,noodp,noydir" /><meta property="og:site_name" content="Kirkus Reviews" /><meta property="og:title" content="BLACK HOLES AND TIME WARPS | Kirkus Reviews" /><meta property="og:description" content="In what seems an attempt to join the ranks of bestselling science writers like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, Thorne (Physics/Caltech) turns out a whopper covering everything from ``The Warping of Time and Space'' to ``Ripples of Curvature'' and ``Wormholes and Time Machines.'' Throughout, he remains resolutely chipper, chirpy, and personably anecdotal. The strange, folksy drawings here contribute to the effect of familiarity, which sometimes does its job and sometimes does not. It is undoubtedly useful to find yourself chatted through a potted history of 20th-century physics in so charming and lucid a manner: the problem, though, is to whom the volume is addressed. Hawking's book had plenty of theory, but it was short and elegantly elliptical, letting you think that you grasped its contents even if you didn't—a delusion that may lie at the heart of many a popular science book's success. Here, however, the reader has to wade through many, many pages of theory and diagrams—obvious to the expert but to difficult for the lay reader. Thorne in fact is strongest for the novice reader when dealing with the history of the physics community, which he presents entertainingly and clearly, allowing its peculiar personalities to emerge living and breathing—perhaps as much as a book of this kind can do within its audience's limiting parameters. Even so, in choosing a compact mini-encyclopedia of 20th- century physics, one could do far worse than this one, with its breadth of information even including exactly how it is that time does hook itself up to a wormhole." /><meta property="og:type" content="book" /><meta property="og:locale" content="en_us" /><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kip-s-thorne/black-holes-and-time-warps/" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/d84e0969b6024ef6bebe8de802379513/0393035050.jpg.300x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" /><meta name="p:domain_verify" content="37b87ca836c480e9b2aef3af8de907aa" /><meta name="msvalidate.01" content="3EDA8C6B7ED6E8AEDFD2D5EA872FC0F4" /><meta property="fb:app_id" content="128362250569507" /><meta property="fb:admins" content="1016584496" /><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"><meta name="twitter:title" content="BLACK HOLES AND TIME WARPS | Kirkus Reviews"><meta name="twitter:description" content="In what seems an attempt to join the ranks of bestselling science writers like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, Thorne (Physics/Caltech) turns out a whopper covering everything from ``The Warping of Time and Space'' to ``Ripples of Curvature'' and ``Wormholes and Time Machines.'' Throughout, he remains resolutely chipper, chirpy, and personably anecdotal. The strange, folksy drawings here contribute to the effect of familiarity, which sometimes does its job and sometimes does not. It is undoubtedly useful to find yourself chatted through a potted history of 20th-century physics in so charming and lucid a manner: the problem, though, is to whom the volume is addressed. Hawking's book had plenty of theory, but it was short and elegantly elliptical, letting you think that you grasped its contents even if you didn't—a delusion that may lie at the heart of many a popular science book's success. Here, however, the reader has to wade through many, many pages of theory and diagrams—obvious to the expert but to difficult for the lay reader. Thorne in fact is strongest for the novice reader when dealing with the history of the physics community, which he presents entertainingly and clearly, allowing its peculiar personalities to emerge living and breathing—perhaps as much as a book of this kind can do within its audience's limiting parameters. Even so, in choosing a compact mini-encyclopedia of 20th- century physics, one could do far worse than this one, with its breadth of information even including exactly how it is that time does hook itself up to a wormhole."><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/d84e0969b6024ef6bebe8de802379513/0393035050.jpg.300x0_q85_autocrop.jpg"><meta name="twitter:site" content="@KirkusReviews"><meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kip-s-thorne/black-holes-and-time-warps/"><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kip-s-thorne/black-holes-and-time-warps/" /><link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/header/apple-icon.png"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/header/apple-icon.png" type="image/png"><link rel="icon" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/header/favicon.png" type="image/png"><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/css/vendor/progressive-image/progressive-image.css"><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/fonts/fontawesome/font-awesome.css"><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/css/app.min.css" media="screen"><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/css/vendor/selection-sharer-1.2.2/selection-sharer.css"><noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-P8CBP8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript><script> (function (w, d, s, l, i) { w[l] = w[l] || []; w[l].push({ 'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(), event: 'gtm.js' }); var f = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j = d.createElement(s), dl = l != 'dataLayer' ? 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Thorne" }, "datePublished": "March 28th,1994", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Norton" }, "genre": "Nonfiction", "isbn": "0-393-03505-0", "review": { "@type": "Review", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kirkus Reviews" }, "reviewBody": "" } } </script> </head> <body class="book-review-page" id="book-review-page" data-slot-scope="" hx-headers='{"X-CSRFToken": "wcAQBxoKP5fL8u186v3ySbJhChdx1I5mwAb58Zavc61ATuPKSvnZDTdYPFcpWXjn"}'> <header role="group" class="header-section"><div class="container-fluid advertise-top-banner"><div class="text-center" id="kr-ad-1-site_header_970x90"><script type='text/javascript'> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('kr-ad-1-site_header_970x90'); }); </script></div></div><div class="container desktop-top-header"><div class="row"><div class="col-lg-4"></div><div class="col-lg-4 text-center top-logo"><a class="kirkus-brand" href="/"><img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/logo/kirkus-nav-logo.svg" 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id="review-body" class="container book-description book-description-first mx-xl-0 mx-lg-auto"> <h1 class="article-title">BLACK HOLES AND TIME WARPS</h1> <h3 class="book-subtitle">EINSTEIN'S OUTRAGEOUS LEGACY</h3> <p class="article-author"> by <a href="/author/kip-s-thorne/"> Kip S. Thorne </a> <span class="hide-on-mobile"> ‧</span> <span class="pub-date-mobile">RELEASE DATE: March 28, 1994</span> </p> <p class="description-title kirkus-title"> </p> <div class="divider-bottom"></div> <div class="show-on-mobile hide-on-desktop mobile-two-buttons d-xl-none d-md-block"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-6 d-flex justify-content-center"> <div hx-get="/book-reviews/bookshelf-button/2000018073/" hx-trigger="revealed" hx-target="this" > <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="button-row"> <a class="kirkus-bookshelf-btn" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/remove-from-shelf.png" width="24px"/> <span class="hide-on-mobile show-on-tablet">bookshelf</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-xs-6 d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="purchase-btn-row dropdown show shop-now-dropdown"> <a class="kirkus-purchase-btn dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdown-shop-link" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" data-id="2000018073"> shop now <img class="button-img" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/drop-down-white-icon.png" width="24px"/> </a> <div class="dropdown-menu kirkus-dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdown-shop-link"> <a class="dropdown-item add-icon" href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Holes-Time-Warps-Commonwealth/dp/0393035050%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIXFKFJI6IH6DO5KQ%26tag%3Dkirkus-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0393035050" target="_blank">amazon</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="first-alphabet book-content text-left"> <p> In what seems an attempt to join the ranks of bestselling science writers like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, Thorne (Physics/Caltech) turns out a whopper covering everything from ``The Warping of Time and Space'' to ``Ripples of Curvature'' and ``Wormholes and Time Machines.'' Throughout, he remains resolutely chipper, chirpy, and personably anecdotal. The strange, folksy drawings here contribute to the effect of familiarity, which sometimes does its job and sometimes does not. It is undoubtedly useful to find yourself chatted through a potted history of 20th-century physics in so charming and lucid a manner: the problem, though, is to whom the volume is addressed. Hawking's book had plenty of theory, but it was short and elegantly elliptical, letting you think that you grasped its contents even if you didn't—a delusion that may lie at the heart of many a popular science book's success. Here, however, the reader has to wade through many, many pages of theory and diagrams—obvious to the expert but to difficult for the lay reader. Thorne in fact is strongest for the novice reader when dealing with the history of the physics community, which he presents entertainingly and clearly, allowing its peculiar personalities to emerge living and breathing—perhaps as much as a book of this kind can do within its audience's limiting parameters. Even so, in choosing a compact mini-encyclopedia of 20th- century physics, one could do far worse than this one, with its breadth of information even including exactly how it is that time does hook itself up to a wormhole.</p> <p></p> </div> <ul class="list-inline article-social-share-mobile show-on-mobile divider-top d-xl-none d-md-block"> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a title="Counts" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/add-to-shelf.png" width="18" height="18" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Like Counts"> <span class="counts p-0 text-dark">0</span> </a> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a class="share-via-fb" title="Share via Facebook" href="#" data-url="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kip-s-thorne/black-holes-and-time-warps/"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/facebook-mobile.png" width="24" height="24" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Share via Facebook"> </a> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a title="Share via Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kip-s-thorne/black-holes-and-time-warps/&hashtags=kirkusreviews"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/twitter-mobile.png" width="24" height="24" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Share via Twitter"> </a> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a class="share-via-email" title="Share via Email" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/email-mobile.png" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Share via Email"> </a> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a title="Print" href="/book-reviews/kip-s-thorne/black-holes-and-time-warps/print/"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/print-icon.png" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Print"> </a> </li> </ul> <div class="divider-bottom divider-gap hide-on-desktop show-on-mobile d-xl-none d-md-block"></div> <div class="row content-row mt-5"> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Pub Date:</b> March 28, 1994</p> <p><b>ISBN:</b> 0-393-03505-0</p> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Page Count:</b> 624</p> <p><b>Publisher:</b> Norton</p> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Review Posted Online:</b> May 19, 2010</p> <p><b>Kirkus Reviews Issue:</b> Feb. 1, 1994</p> </div> </div> <div class="row content-row"> <div class="col-lg-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12 mb-3"> <div class="category-flex-container"> <div class="category-label flex-child" style="max-width: 68px"> <span class="cat-genre"><b>Categories:</b></span> </div> <div class="category-links flex-child"> <p class="article-category"> <a href="/discover-books/nonfiction/science-technology"> SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY</a> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p class="share-review-text" hx-get="/book-reviews/like-dislike/2000018073/" hx-trigger="revealed" hx-target="next .htmx-like-dislike" hx-swap="innerHTML" >Share your opinion of this book</p> <div class="d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-lg-start my-3 htmx-like-dislike"> <ul class="list-inline like-dislike-article"> <li class="list-inline-item"> <div class="like-icon"></div> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <div class="dislike-icon"></div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="container book-description mx-xl-0 mx-lg-auto"> <div class="related-article 2000018073-author"> <p class="related-content">More by Kip S. 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</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="col-lg-12 col-sm-12 my-1 hide-on-mobile d-xl-block d-md-none"> <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="purchase-btn-row dropdown show shop-now-dropdown"> <a class="kirkus-purchase-btn dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdown-shop-link" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" data-id="2000100787"> shop now <img class="button-img" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/drop-down-white-icon.png" width="24px"/> </a> <div class="dropdown-menu kirkus-dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdown-shop-link"> <a class="dropdown-item add-icon" href="http://www.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0312427565%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIXFKFJI6IH6DO5KQ%26tag%3Dkirkus-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0312427565" target="_blank">amazon</a> <a class="dropdown-item add-icon" href="https://bookshop.org/a/1812/9780312427566/" target="_blank">bookshop</a> </div> </div> </div> <div hx-get="/book-reviews/bookshelf-button/2000100787/" hx-trigger="revealed" hx-target="this" > <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="button-row"> <a class="kirkus-bookshelf-btn" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/remove-from-shelf.png" width="24px"/> <span class="hide-on-mobile show-on-tablet">bookshelf</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="right-col-book-review col-lg-8"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/bubble.png" class="book-review-bubble d-none" alt="Next book"> <div id="review-body" class="container book-description book-description-pagination mx-xl-0 mx-lg-auto"> <h1 class="article-title">THE RIGHT STUFF</h1> <p class="article-author"> by <a href="/author/tom-wolfe/"> Tom Wolfe </a> <span class="hide-on-mobile"> ‧</span> <span class="pub-date-mobile">RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 1979</span> </p> <p class="description-title kirkus-title"> </p> <div class="divider-bottom"></div> <div class="show-on-mobile hide-on-desktop mobile-two-buttons d-xl-none d-md-block"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-6 d-flex justify-content-center"> <div hx-get="/book-reviews/bookshelf-button/2000100787/" hx-trigger="revealed" hx-target="this" > <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="button-row"> <a class="kirkus-bookshelf-btn" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/remove-from-shelf.png" width="24px"/> <span class="hide-on-mobile show-on-tablet">bookshelf</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-xs-6 d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="purchase-btn-row dropdown show shop-now-dropdown"> <a class="kirkus-purchase-btn dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdown-shop-link" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" data-id="2000100787"> shop now <img class="button-img" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/drop-down-white-icon.png" width="24px"/> </a> <div class="dropdown-menu kirkus-dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdown-shop-link"> <a class="dropdown-item add-icon" href="http://www.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0312427565%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIXFKFJI6IH6DO5KQ%26tag%3Dkirkus-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0312427565" target="_blank">amazon</a> <a class="dropdown-item add-icon" href="https://bookshop.org/a/1812/9780312427566/" target="_blank">bookshop</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="first-alphabet book-content text-left"> <p>Yes: it's high time for a de-romanticized, de-mythified, close-up retelling of the U.S. Space Program's launching—the inside story of those first seven astronauts.<br /><br />But no: jazzy, jivey, exclamation-pointed, italicized Tom Wolfe "Mr. Overkill" hasn't really got the fight stuff for the job. Admittedly, he covers all the ground. He begins with the competitive, macho world of test pilots from which the astronauts came (thus being grossly overqualified to just sit in a controlled capsule); he follows the choosing of the Seven, the preparations for space flight, the flights themselves, the feelings of the wives; and he presents the breathless press coverage, the sudden celebrity, the glorification. He even throws in some of the technology. But instead of replacing the heroic standard version with the ring of truth, Wolfe merely offers an alternative myth: a surreal, satiric, often cartoony Wolfe-arama that, especially since there isn't a bit of documentation along the way, has one constantly wondering if anything really happened the way Wolfe tells it. His astronauts (referred to as "the brethren" or "The True Brothers") are obsessed with having the "right stuff" that certain blend of guts and smarts that spells pilot success. The Press is a ravenous fool, always referred to as "the eternal Victorian Gent": when Walter Cronkite's voice breaks while reporting a possible astronaut death, "There was the Press the Genteel Gent, coming up with the appropriate emotion. . . live. . . with no prompting whatsoever!" And, most off-puttingly, Wolfe presumes to enter the minds of one and all: he's with near-drowing Gus Grissom ("Cox. . . That face up there!—it's Cox. . . Cox knew how to get people out of here! . . . Cox! . . ."); he's with Betty Grissom angry about not staying at Holiday Inn ("Now. . . they truly owed her"); and, in a crude hatchet-job, he's with John Glenn furious at Al Shepard's being chosen for the first flight, pontificating to the others about their licentious behavior, or holding onto his self-image during his flight ("Oh, yes! I've been here before! And I am immune! I don't get into corners I can't get out of! . . . The Presbyterian Pilot was not about to foul up. His pipeline to dear Lord could not be clearer"). Certainly there's much here that Wolfe is quite right about, much that people will be interested in hearing: the P-R whitewash of Grissom's foul-up, the Life magazine excesses, the inter-astronaut tensions. And, for those who want to give Wolfe the benefit of the doubt throughout, there are emotional reconstructions that are juicily shrill.<br /><br />But most readers outside the slick urban Wolfe orbit will find credibility fatally undermined by the self-indulgent digressions, the stylistic excesses, and the broadly satiric, anti-All-American stance; and, though <i>The Right Stuff</i> has enough energy, sass, and dirt to attract an audience, it mostly suggests that until Wolfe can put his subject first and his preening writing-persona second, he probably won't be a convincing chronicler of anything much weightier than radical chic.</p> <p></p> </div> <ul class="list-inline article-social-share-mobile show-on-mobile divider-top d-xl-none d-md-block"> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a title="Counts" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/add-to-shelf.png" width="18" height="18" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Like Counts"> <span class="counts 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Email"> </a> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a title="Print" href="/book-reviews/tom-wolfe/the-right-stuff/print/"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/print-icon.png" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Print"> </a> </li> </ul> <div class="divider-bottom divider-gap hide-on-desktop show-on-mobile d-xl-none d-md-block"></div> <div class="row content-row mt-5"> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Pub Date:</b> Sept. 24, 1979</p> <p><b>ISBN:</b> 0312427565</p> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Page Count:</b> 370</p> <p><b>Publisher:</b> Farrar, Straus and Giroux</p> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Review Posted Online:</b> Oct. 13, 2011</p> <p><b>Kirkus Reviews Issue:</b> Sept. 1, 1979</p> </div> </div> <div class="row content-row"> <div class="col-lg-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12 mb-3"> <div class="category-flex-container"> <div class="category-label flex-child" 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2020</span> </p> <p class="description-title kirkus-title"> A quirky wonder of a book. </p> <div class="divider-bottom"></div> <div class="show-on-mobile hide-on-desktop mobile-two-buttons d-xl-none d-md-block"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-6 d-flex justify-content-center"> <div hx-get="/book-reviews/bookshelf-button/2000198894/" hx-trigger="revealed" hx-target="this" > <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="button-row"> <a class="kirkus-bookshelf-btn" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/remove-from-shelf.png" width="24px"/> <span class="hide-on-mobile show-on-tablet">bookshelf</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-xs-6 d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="row d-flex justify-content-center"> <div class="purchase-btn-row dropdown show shop-now-dropdown"> <a class="kirkus-purchase-btn dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdown-shop-link" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" 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href="https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-7997708-13261435?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%2Fw%2Fwhy-fish-dont-exist-lulu-miller%2F1132188921%3Fean%3D9781501160271&cjsku=9781501160271" target="_blank">BN.com</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="first-alphabet book-content text-left"> <p>A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.</p> <p><span>Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full <i>fifth</i> of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.</span></p> A quirky wonder of a book. </div> <ul class="list-inline article-social-share-mobile show-on-mobile divider-top d-xl-none d-md-block"> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a title="Counts" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/add-to-shelf.png" width="18" height="18" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Like Counts"> <span class="counts p-0 text-dark">8</span> </a> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a class="share-via-fb" title="Share via Facebook" href="#" data-url="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lulu-miller/why-fish-dont-exist/"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/facebook-mobile.png" width="24" height="24" 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hide-on-desktop show-on-mobile d-xl-none d-md-block"></div> <div class="row content-row mt-5"> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Pub Date:</b> April 14, 2020</p> <p><b>ISBN:</b> 978-1-5011-6027-1</p> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Page Count:</b> 224</p> <p><b>Publisher:</b> Simon & Schuster</p> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <p><b>Review Posted Online:</b> Jan. 1, 2020</p> <p><b>Kirkus Reviews Issue:</b> Feb. 1, 2020</p> </div> </div> <div class="row content-row"> <div class="col-lg-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12 mb-3"> <div class="category-flex-container"> <div class="category-label flex-child" style="max-width: 68px"> <span class="cat-genre"><b>Categories:</b></span> </div> <div class="category-links flex-child"> <p class="article-category"> <a href="/discover-books/biography-memoir/general-biography-memoir"> GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR</a> | <a href="/discover-books/nonfiction/biography-memoir"> BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR</a> | <a href="/discover-books/nonfiction/nature"> NATURE</a> | <a href="/discover-books/nonfiction/science-technology"> SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY</a> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p class="share-review-text" hx-get="/book-reviews/like-dislike/2000198894/" hx-trigger="revealed" hx-target="next .htmx-like-dislike" hx-swap="innerHTML" >Share your opinion of this book</p> <div class="d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-lg-start my-3 htmx-like-dislike"> <ul class="list-inline like-dislike-article"> <li class="list-inline-item"> <div class="like-icon"></div> </li> <li class="list-inline-item"> <div class="dislike-icon"></div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="container book-description mx-xl-0 mx-lg-auto"> <div class="related-article 2000198894-author"> <p class="related-content">More by Lulu Miller</p> <ul class="list-inline medium-card-list by-author-separater"> <li class="list-inline-item medium-list"> <div class="image-container medium-list-card"> <a 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BLACK HOLES AND TIME WARPS | Kirkus Reviews