Brian Switek · 320 pages
Rating: (575 votes)
“This area produces a protein given the whimsical name Sonic Hedgehog,”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
“If an organised body is not in the situation and circumstances best adapted to its sustenance and propagation, then, in conceiving an indefinite variety among the individuals of that species, we must be assured, that, on the one hand, those which depart most from the best adapted constitution, will be most liable to perish, while, on the other hand, those organised bodies, which most approach to the best constitution for the present circumstances, will be best adapted to continue, in preserving themselves and multiplying the individuals of their race.”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
“In order to approximate dinosaurian physiology, the trio of scientists carried out the unenviable task of sticking thermometers in the cloacae of American alligators.”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
“the difficulties of making temperature experiments [on fully grown alligators] would be great and can be best left to the imagination.”)”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
“Distinguishing the first true birds from their feathered dinosaur relations has become increasingly difficult. If we define birds as warm-blooded, feathered, bipedal animals that lay eggs, then many coelurosaurs are birds, so we have to take another approach.”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
“As new discoveries continued to accumulate it became apparent that almost every group of coelurosaurs had feathered representatives, from the weird secondarily herbivorous forms such as Beipiaosaurus to Dilong, an early relative of Tyrannosaurus. It is even possible that, during its early life, the most famous of the flesh-tearing dinosaurs may have been covered in a coat of dino-fuzz.”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
“The places paleontologists looked for fossils and how those fossils have been interpreted have been influenced by politics and culture, reminding us that while there is a reality that science allows us to approach the process of science is a human endeavor.”
― Brian Switek, quote from Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
Brian Switek
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“Words can be sweetly encouraging or downright dirty, but they are almost always a powerful aphrodisiac. –Dr. Ruth”
― Mary Frame, quote from Imperfect Chemistry
“You don't stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running.”
― Christopher McDougall, quote from Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, The Ultra-runners, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
“Desire creates attachment. Attachment to this world. And, when you don't get what you want or get what you don't want, it leads to suffering. And that to violence and wars. Which finally results in destruction. So, if you want to avoid destruction and suffering, you should control your desire right? Give up maya, the illusion of this world?”
― Amish Tripathi, quote from The Secret of Nagas
“You can put your trust in something that’s obvious, that’s measurable or predictable - but that's not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, it cannot have proof as its foundation.”
― James Islington, quote from The Shadow of What Was Lost
“You are not a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes”
― John Wooden, quote from Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization
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