"Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2025: the profound and life-affirming memoir about finding our way in a chaotic world
If fish don't exist, what else do we have wrong?
As a child, Lulu Miller's scientist father taught her that chaos will come for us all. There is no cosmic destiny, no plan. Enter David Starr Jordan, 19th-century taxonomist and believer in order. A fish specialist devoted to mapping out the great tree of life, who spent his days pinning down unruly fins, studying shimmering scales and sealing new discoveries into jars of ethanol.
At a time when Lulu's life is unravelling, David Starr Jordan beckons. Reading about Jordan's sheer perseverance after an earthquake shattered his collection, Lulu stumbles upon an unexpected antidote to life's unpredictability. But lurking behind the lore of this mighty taxonomist lies a darker tale waiting to be told: one about the human cost of attempting to define the form of things unknown.
This is a story unlike any other you've read before. It's about a very tall man with a walrus moustache, the injustices and unexpected deliverances of the universe, love that strikes like lightning and about why fish don't exist after all.
'A sumptuous, surprising, dark delight' Carmen Maria Machado
'Fast-moving, deftly balanced, full of surprises' Guardian’s Book of the Day
‘A bold and original blend of memoir and science’ Elizabeth Buchanan"
"Radiolab is one of the most popular and longest-running shows produced by WNYC, with over 2 million weekly listeners across public radio and podcasting.
Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. We ask deep questions and use investigative journalism to get the answers. A given episode might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. The show is known for innovative sound design, smashing information into music. It is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.
VOLUME 1: MEMORY
“A 4-Track Mind” - A neurologist issues a dare to a ragtime piano player and a famous conductor. When the two men face off in an fMRI machine, the challenge is so difficult that one man instantly gives up. But the other achieves a musical feat that ought to be impossible.
“Memory and Forgetting” - Remembering is an unstable and profoundly unreliable process. Oliver Sacks joins us to tell the story of an amnesiac whose love for his wife and music transcend his seven-second memory.
“Finding Emilie” - Susan Gossiaux describes her daughter Emilie and the terrible phone call she received from Emilie’s boyfriend, Alan Lundgard. Susan and Alan tell about the devastating fork in the road that left Emilie lost in a netherworld, and how Alan found her again.
“Right to Be Forgotten” - In online news, stories live forever. The tipsy photograph of you at the college football game? It’s there. A charge for driving under the influence? That’s there, too. But what if … it wasn’t?
“Vanishing Words” - Agatha Christie’s clever detective novels may reveal more about the inner workings of the human mind than she intended. In this podcast, we look at what scientists uncover when they treat words like data."
"Radiolab is one of the most popular and longest-running shows produced by WNYC, with over 2 million weekly listeners across public radio and podcasting.
Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. We ask deep questions and use investigative journalism to get the answers. A given episode might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. The show is known for innovative sound design, smashing information into music. It is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.
VOLUME 2: TIME
“The Secret to a Long Life” - Producer Sindhu Gnanasambandan wants to know how she can live the longest feeling life possible. The answer leads her on a journey to make one week feel like two. And the journey leads her to a whole new answer.
“Octomom” - In 2007, Bruce Robison’s robot submarine stumbled across an octopus settling in to brood her eggs. What began as a simple act of motherhood became a heroic feat that has never been equaled by any known species on Earth.
“Human vs. Horse” (Radiolab for Kids) - In one of our favorite Radiolab animal episodes of all time, we head to a human vs. horse race in the desert of Arizona. Turns out it has everything to do with what gives us humans … our humanity. Also our butts.
“Loops” - Our lives are filled with loops that hurt us, heal us, make us laugh, and, sometimes, leave us wanting more. This hour, Radiolab revisits the strange things that emerge when something happens, then happens again, and again, and again …
“The Times They Are a-Changin’” - At the start of a new year we crack open some fossils, peer back into ancient seas, and look up at lunar skies to find that a year is not quite as fixed as we thought it was."
"Radiolab is one of the most popular and longest-running shows produced by WNYC, with over 2 million weekly listeners across public radio and podcasting.
Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. We ask deep questions and use investigative journalism to get the answers. A given episode might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. The show is known for innovative sound design, smashing information into music. It is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.
VOLUME 3: SPACE
“Bit Flip” - What do a hacked Belgian election, a falling airplane, and a fleet of runaway cars all have in common? The answer just might lie in the stars.
Terrestrials: “The Unimaginable” (Radiolab for Kids) - An invisible entity journeys to Planet Earth and literally rocks our world.
“The Middle of Everything Ever” - We all have moments when, facing the future or staring into the vastness of space, we feel small. But are we small? One listener asked us to find out.
“Mixtapes to the Moon” - They promised to change you. They ended up changing all of us. On July 20, 1969, humanity watched as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon.
“The Moon Itself” - On Monday, April 8, 2024, for a large swath of North America, the sun disappeared, in the middle of the day. In this episode, we stop treating the moon like a bit player in this epic cosmic event and place it center stage.
“The Distance of the Moon” - How far is the moon, really? Could you get there with a ladder? A live event reading hosted by Radiolab and Selected Shorts."
