Neil Shubin

OK, lesson learned. I'm not a fan of science writing. I want to be, but except for reading about the human body and medical stuff, which I find fascinating, the rest of the science world holds very little interest for me.

So I had a tough time staying engaged as I read SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED. Although the topic of evolutionary biology is pretty cool on its own, I found the concepts presented challenging to understand at times. This is probably my failing rather than the author's. Still, I found my eyes glazing over constantly, and I often had to re-read entire paragraphs because I'd lost focus.… (more)

Science writing at its best. Wonderful book about how our human bodies came about through evolution from fish and earlier. The title always sounded a bit odd to me, and if it does to you, please don’t let that prevent you from reading this masterpiece. Easy and fun to read, and although I’ve been reading about evolution for years I still learned a ton from this book, and had a great time doing so. Also fun to read about what paleontologist do, and how it fits in with other strands of biology (and geology).… (more)