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Nature 451, 245 (17 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/451245a; Published online 16 January 2008

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Twenty-first-century anatomy lesson

Carl Zimmer1

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Polymath pieces together the surprising past of the human body from fins, wings, hangovers and hiccups.

BOOK REVIEWEDYour Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

by Neil Shubin

Allen Lane/Pantheon: 2008. 240 pp. £20/$24

Six hundred years ago, anatomists were rock stars. Their lessons filled open-air amphitheatres, where the curious public rubbed shoulders with medical students.