Why Fish Don't Exist

基本信息

Edited by：Lulu Miller

Publisher：Simon & Schuster

Published：6 Apr 2021

Language：English

Format Paperback：256 pages

ISBN-10 : 1501160346

ISBN-13 : 978-1501160349

Weight：204 g

Dimensions： 133 x 15 x 203（mm）

页面参数仅供参考，具体以实物为准

书籍简介

大卫·斯塔尔·乔丹是一位分类学家，他着魔于给自然界带来秩序。随着时间的推移，他发现了当时人类所知的近五分之一的鱼类。但他发现的隐藏的生命蓝图越多，宇宙似乎就越难阻挠他。他的标本收藏被闪电和大火摧毁，最终在1906年旧金山地震中被摧毁——地震使1000多件藏在易碎的玻璃罐子里的发现掉落到地板上。刹那间，他毕生的心血被粉碎了。

许多人可能已经放弃，屈服于绝望。但乔丹吗?他仔细查看了脚下的残骸，发现了第一条他认识的鱼，然后信心十足地开始重新收集。这一次，他引入了一项聪明的创新，他相信这将最终保护他的作品不受世界混乱的影响。

当美国国家公共广播电台(NPR)的记者露露·米勒(Lulu Miller)第一次偶然听到这件轶事时，她认为乔丹是个傻瓜——这是一个傲慢或否认的警世故事。但随着她自己的生活慢慢地分崩离析，她开始对他产生怀疑。也许相反，他是当一切似乎都失去时如何继续前进的榜样。她发掘出的关于他生活的东西将改变她对历史、道德和她脚下的世界的理解。

半是传记，半是回忆录，半是科学冒险，《为什么鱼不存在》是一个奇妙的寓言，讲述了如何在一个总是混乱的世界中坚持下去。

David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—which sent more than a thousand discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life’s work was shattered.

Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish that he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.

When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool—a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.

Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a wondrous fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.

作者简介

露露·米勒是Radiolab的联合主持人，美国国家公共电台“Invisibilia”的联合创始人，也是皮博迪奖获奖科学记者。她的作品发表在《纽约客》、VQR、Orion、Electric Literature、Catapult等杂志上。她在地球上最喜欢的地方是座头岩。

Lulu Miller is the cohost of Radiolab, cofounder of NPR’s Invisibilia, and a Peabody Award–winning science journalist. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, VQR, Orion, Electric Literature, Catapult, and beyond. Her favorite spot on earth is Humpback Rocks.