When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard, in passing, about the seemingly obsessive life of David Starr Jordan—a taxonomist who lost his life’s work to lightning, fire, and even the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—she thought she had found a cautionary tale of hubris (or denial). But, as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder whether he was, instead, a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. Indeed, what Miller would eventually unearth about Jordan would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the very earth beneath her feet. Why Fish Don’t Exist is an ode on how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.

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Photo: Cover of "Why Fish Don't Exist" ©Amerikahaus München