Sunday, April 10, 2011

Great Stories from our Friends the Naturalists...

I've got 2 great articles to share with you... one was in the NYTimes, entitled "Dying for Discovery". It chronicles the sacrifices that many naturalists have shouldered in the name of exploration. One of the early examples in the article is of a birder and botanist pair who died when their plane crashed into a mountainside because of cloud cover. The author writes, "They lingered there overnight, trapped in the wreckage, and died in the morning. “It was beautiful forest,” a survivor, Parker’s [the birder] fiancĂ©e, later told a reporter, “and they were very happy. Lots of birds.”

I think that is the best eulogy I have ever read. Ever.

The other article is certainly more light-hearted. It's about the introduction of Douglas Adams (author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and Struan Sutherland (poisonous animal expert). The quoted conversation by Adams is comic genius and does not disappoint.

I hope you enjoy them. :)

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...