science

Why Fish Don't Exist

Why Fish Don't Exist is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Why Fish Don't Exist rather than just read about it. In short: Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life is a 2020 personal memoir written by American science reporter and author Lulu Miller and illustrated by scratchboard artist Kate Samworth. It incorporates the life and work of 19th century eugenicist and fish taxonomist David Starr Jordan, exploring the search for objective meaning and order "against the chaos of the world".

Key takeaways

Why Fish Don't Exist belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Why Fish Don't Exist to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Why Fish Don't Exist from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life is a 2020 personal memoir written by American science reporter and author Lulu Miller and illustrated by scratchboard artist Kate Samworth. It incorporates the life and work of 19th century eugenicist and fish taxonomist David Starr Jordan, exploring the search for objective meaning and order "against the chaos of the world". The memoir was published by Pushkin Press. In 2025, it was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.

Synopsis The book has a non-linear narrative structure, interspersing Miller's account of Jordan's life with personal anecdotes, including her experience with depression and her relationship with her father, Chris Miller, who manages to find beauty in life despite his belief that it is meaningless. Throughout her memoir, Miller grapples with the conflict between her admiration for Jordan's relentless determination in his work and her research into his alleged involvement in the death of Jane Stanford, and his ardent support for eugenics. Examining the psychological debate around "positive illusions" and Jordan's fixation on the preservation of biological hierarchy, she warns against his dogmatic and certain approach to order, pointing to recent scientific breakthroughs that have diminished the existence of fish as a distinct evolutionary category as evidence that "nature is more boundless and bountiful than anything we can imagine". Miller concludes, contrary to the beliefs of both her father and Jordan, that, whilst the universe is fundamentally chaotic, the subjective search for meaning is attainable, through our interpersonal relationships with one another and curiosity for the world around us.

Reception In 2020, Why Fish Don't Exist was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize for Science and Technology. In 2022, it was chosen as one of the novels for Stanford's Three Books program, on the theme of biodiversity. Booklist described it as "gripping, and sure to be on readers' minds long after the final pages" whilst Folio Prize winner Carmen Maria Machado described it as "a sumptuous, surprising delight". Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Christoph Irmscher wrote: "leavened by a healthy dose of self-irony, Ms. Miller wields this familiar format with panache, spinning a tale so seductive that I read her book in one sitting". New York Times bestselling author Mary Roach commented: "this book is perfect, just perfect. It's both lyrical and learned, personal and political, small and huge, quirky and profound".

See also David Starr Jordan Lulu Miller Kate Samworth

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Why Fish Don't Exist

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Why Fish Don't Exist claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Why Fish Don't Exist before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Why Fish Don't Exist ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Why Fish Don't Exist

In research: Why Fish Don't Exist appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Why Fish Don't Exist in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Why Fish Don't Exist is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020 English-language non-fiction books, 2020 non-fiction books, 2020s memoirs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Why Fish Don't Exist outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Why Fish Don't Exist” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Why Fish Don't Exist in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Why Fish Don't Exist means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Why Fish Don't Exist out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Why Fish Don't Exist in simple terms?

Why does Why Fish Don't Exist matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Why Fish Don't Exist?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Why Fish Don't Exist.