re: #319 abolitionist

Given that Shubin was the discoverer of the Tiktaalik roseae fossil I think he believes in it.

And the book goes into the difficulties in finding transitional fossils since you need a combination of not necessarily common conditions. (Animal is buried in a way to promote fossilization, animal is fossilized, strata with fossil is exposed somewhere to be found, etc. And with older rocks you get fewer places due to tectonics, erosion, etc.) And Shubin also discusses the predictive manner of the search - transition to land animals occured in roughly this time period so you want to look for shallow water/swamp deposited strata from that period as the ideal location to locate the predicted fossils. Thus search in Greenland and eventually finding predicted fossils.

And “Inner Fish” goes on to look at other aspects, such as fish gill arches being repurposed by amphibians, reptiles, etc. into ear or small jaw bones. And the book is an attempt to present this at layman science level instead of being a fully scholarly work.