Join us for Bløm’s book club! Every 6 weeks we will gather to share drinks and reflections on thought provoking books from a diverse range of authors and topics. A great way to enjoy a drink, explore new books, and to meet other bibliophiles in the Bløm community!
If you would like to join us, copies can be found at the Ann Arbor District Library, the Saline Library, the Ypsilanti Library, online, and locally. Literati has generously offered a 15% discount on copies purchased there. If you’d like to utilize this discount, simply visit/call Literati and let them know you’re part of the Bløm Book Club.
This session we will be reading Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller. Listed as “The Best Book of 2020” by The Washington Post, NPR, The Smithsonian, and The Chicago Tribune this book interweaves science writing, memoir, and biography into a fascinating dive into the life and work of David Starr Jordan. From the Good Reads description:
David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—which sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life’s work was shattered.
Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.
When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool—a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.
Click here to hear an interview on NPR between Miller and Ari Shapiro, where she discusses the book, and the complex nature of inspiration that came from writing this book and learning more about David Starr Jordan’s life.
Next Session we will be Reading: The Man Who Could Move Clouds