Understanding Complex Concepts Through Simple Analogies Theme Analysis

After noting the similarities between different animal species, Shubin explains how studying the anatomy of simple animals can provide a tool to understand how the anatomy of complex animals works. This approach takes advantage of the ways that these animals are similar as a starting point to focus on the ways that species differ. Shubin uses the anatomy of relatively “simple” animals such as fish, sponges, or bacteria to make it easier to understand what is going on in the more “complex” animals like primates and humans. He then further breaks down the complicated human anatomy by organizing the book into chapters on different parts (teeth, heads, ears, eyes, hands, etc.), tightly focusing on just one part at a time make it easier to see how the entire body comes together in the end. Shubin follows the complex functions of each of these organs or body parts through the “simple” versions of these anatomical structures to make it easier to see why such complicated systems developed the way they did. For example, the complex human eye uses the same light gathering molecules (opsin) as bacteria do. Scientists can run experiments on bacteria to better understand how opsin works that would be impossible to do on a human eye due to all the variables in human vision. Then scientists can apply what they now know about bacterial opsin to human opsin and have a clearer picture of what the human eye is actually doing. Simple animals are a gateway towards studying the more complex animals, because the complex animals utilize many of the parts of simple animals and add to their body structures instead of creating completely different systems.

Aside from using simple animals to make it easier to understand complex animals, Shubin also uses simple analogies to help people understand complex concepts. As Your Inner Fish is a scientific book written for the general public, Shubin uses many tools to help ensure that the average person can easily grasp the sometimes-heavy scientific topics that he has made his life’s work. For example, Shubin illustrates the concept of descent with modification through a family of clowns who only gain one new trait in each child, simplifying the idea of human generations that change multiple things from parent to child. Yet though he simplifies complex concepts to make them easier to understand at first, Shubin does not advocate for reducing complex concepts to their simplest roots and leaving it at that. Once he has simplified the concept and explained it thoroughly, he adds the layers of complexity back. These simple analogies or illustrations are a tool to help the larger public get interested in these topics and attain a basic understanding. Shubin then expresses the hope that his readers will continue to learn more about these scientific concepts, and he includes a large list of resources for further reading that go deeper into complicated topics of genetic research or medical issues.