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David Quammen Quotes - Page 2

Islands are where species go to die.

Islands are where species go to die.

David Quammen
Islands, Species, Dies
"The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions". Book by David Quammen, 1996.

[Theory is] an explanation that has been confirmed to such a degree, by observation and experiment, that knowledgeable experts accept it as fact. That's what scientists mean when they talk about a theory: not a dreamy and unreliable speculation, but an explanatory statement that fits the evidence. They embrace such an explanation confidently but provisionally - taking it as their best available view of reality, at least unil some severely conflicting data or some better explanation might come along.

David Quammen
Mean, Reality, Views

Wallace's sales agent, back in London, heard mutterings from some naturalists that young Mr. Wallace ought to quit theorizing and stick to gathering facts. Besides expressing their condescension toward him in particular, that criticism also reflected a common attitude that fact-gathering, not theory, was the proper business of all naturalists.

David Quammen
Attitude, Criticism, Gathering
David Quammen (1996). “The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions”, Vintage

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