Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

by Neil Shubin

  One of the greatest debts students of anatomy have is to the people who donate their bodies so that we can learn. It is a rare privilege to learn from a real body. Sitting through long hours in the lab, one feels a very profound connection to the donors who make the experience possible. I felt that connection again while writing this book.

  The ideas I present here are rooted in research I’ve done and in classes I’ve taught. Colleagues and students too numerous to name—undergraduates, medical students, and graduate students—have played a role in the thinking that went into these pages.

  I owe a great debt to the colleagues I have worked with over the years. Ted Daeschler, Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., Fred Mullison, Paul Olsen, William Amaral, Jason Downs, and Chuck Schaff have all been part of the stories I tell here. Without these people I would have had no reservoir of experience on which to draw, nor would I have had as much fun along the way. Members of my laboratory at the University of Chicago—Randall Dahn, Marcus Davis, Adam Franssen, Andrew Gillis, Christian Kammerer, Kalliopi Monoyios, and Becky Shearman—all influenced my thinking and tolerated my time away from the bench as I wrote.

  Colleagues who gave their time to provide needed background or comments on the manuscript include Kamla Ahluwalia, Sean Carroll, Michael Coates, Randall Dahn, Marcus Davis, Anna DiRienzo, Andrew Gillis, Lance Grande, Elizabeth Grove, Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Robert Ho, Betty Katsaros, Michael LaBarbera, Chris Lowe, Daniel Margoliash, Kalliopi Monoyios, Jonathan Pritchard, Vicky Prince, Cliff Ragsdale, Nino Ramirez, Callum Ross, Avi Stopper, Cliff Tabin, and John Zeller. Haytham Abu-Zayd helped with many administrative matters. My own teachers of anatomy in the Harvard–MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., and Lee Gehrke, stimulated an interest that has lasted over twenty years.

  Key advice at the inception of the project, and inspiration throughout, came from Sean Carroll and Carl Zimmer.

  The Wellfleet Public Library (Wellfleet, Massachusetts) provided a comfortable home, and much-needed retreat, where I wrote significant parts of the book. A brief stint at the American Academy in Berlin put me in an environment that proved critical when I was completing the manuscript.

  My two bosses, Dr. James Madara, M.D. (CEO, University of Chicago Medical Center, Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean and Sara and Harold Thompson Distinguished Service Professor in the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine), and John McCarter, Jr. (CEO, The Field Museum), supported this project and the research behind it. It has been a true pleasure to work with such insightful and compassionate leaders.

  I have been fortunate to teach at the University of Chicago and to have had the opportunity to interact with the leadership of the Pritzker School of Medicine there. The deans, Holly Humphrey and Halina Bruckner, graciously welcomed a paleontologist to their team. Through interacting with them I came to appreciate the challenges and importance of basic medical education.

  It has been a great pleasure to be associated with The Field Museum in Chicago, where I have had the opportunity to work with a unique group of people dedicated to scientific discovery, application, and outreach. These colleagues include Elizabeth Babcock, Joseph Brennan, Sheila Cawley, Jim Croft, Lance Grande, Melissa Hilton, Ed Horner, Debra Moskovits, Laura Sadler, Sean VanDerziel, and Diane White. I am also grateful for the support, guidance, and encouragement I have received from the leaders of the Committee on Science of the Board of Trustees at The Field Museum, James L. Alexander and Adele S. Simmons.

  I am indebted to my agent, Katinka Matson, for helping me turn an idea into a proposal and for advice throughout the process. I feel privileged to have worked with Marty Asher, my editor. Like a patient teacher, he gave me a nurturing combination of advice, time, and encouragement to help me find my way. Zachary Wagman contributed to this project in countless ways by being free with his time, keen editorial eye, and good counsel. Dan Frank made insightful suggestions that stimulated me to think about the story in new ways. Jolanta Benal copyedited the text and improved the presentation immeasurably. I am very grateful to Ellen Feldman, Kristen Bearse, and the production team for their hard work under a tight schedule.

  My parents, Gloria and Seymour Shubin, always knew that I would write a book, even before I did. Without their faith in me, I doubt that I ever would have put a word on paper.

  My wife, Michele Seidl, and our children, Nathaniel and Hannah, have been living with fish—both Tiktaalik and this book—for the better part of two years. Michele read and commented on every draft of this text and supported long weekend absences while I wrote. Her patience and love made it all possible.

  Copyright © 2008 by Neil Shubin

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  All illustrations by Kalliopi Monoyios unless otherwise noted.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Shubin, Neil.

  Your inner fish : a journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human body / By Neil Shubin.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-37716-6

  1. Human anatomy—Popular works. 2. Human evolution—Popular works. I. Title.

  QM26.s58 2008 611—dc22 2007024699

  www.pantheonbooks.com

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