Tower of Iron Will

Neil Shubin is a paleontologist who spent years teaching anatomy to medical students. His combined background in ancient fossils and human anatomy gives him a unique perspective on the evolution of the human body, both its wonders and its flaws. Shubin's view of the human body is like a car that has been rebuilt many many times to serve different functions. Imagine you started with a small sedan and then expanded it into a big family minivan, then added a racing engine, then attached a plow and turned it into a bulldozer. Each adaptation of the vehicle would be built up on parts of the older vehicles, leading to all manner of awkward design issues. For example, mammals get hiccups because the nerves that control our breathing muscles have the same wiring that ancient amphibians used to breath in quick gulps and then seal their lungs against drowning.

Speaking as someone who lives in the American Southeast, I live in an environment in which a large portion of the public (maybe even the majority) believe evolution is a lie from Devil meant to trick people into doubting the Bible. Shubin wisely never discusses the anti-evolution controversies, he just lays out the biological facts and the prevailing scientific explanations for them. Books like Your Inner Fish are perfect for people who are struggling with the idea of evolution. He shows that the human body is not a masterpiece of perfect conscious design, but rather a fish adapted into a reptile then adapted into a small mammal and then into upright primate, and evidence of the earlier forms can be found throughout the structure.