It's an unnerving thought that we may be the living universe's supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously.
Bill BrysonThere are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age.
Bill BrysonWhere I grew up, in Des Moines, Iowa, there is hardly any downtown economic activity now. Everybody shops in malls - you don't find a sense of community in malls.
Bill BrysonAs James Surowiecki noted in a New Yorker article, given a choice between developing antibiotics that people will take every day for two weeks and antidepressants that people will take every day for ever, drug companies not surprisingly opt for the latter. Although a few antibiotics have been toughened up a bit, the pharmaceutical industry hasn't given us an entirely new antibiotic since the 1970s.
Bill Bryson