Quotes from John Reader

In a manner which matches the fortuity, if not the consequence, of Archimedes' bath and Newton's apple, the [3.6 million year old] fossil footprints were eventually noticed one evening in September 1976 by the paleontologist Andrew Hill, who fell while avoiding a ball of elephant dung hurled at him by the ecologist David Western.

It is remarkable how often the first interpretations of new evidence have confirmed the preconceptions of its discoverers.

Once established for a few generations, civilization might seem durable enough to last forever. But the skin of enlightened self-interest is very delicate, easily eroded, and the human capacity for unspeakable barbarity lies just beneath its surface.

Neither cereals nor pulses can match its generosity: the potato is the best all-round bundle of nutrition known.

That these commonplace and down-to-earth tubers should be a vital component of humanity's venture into space is a sublime vindication of their worth. Trillions of dollars, billions of man-hours and the success of humanity's most ambitious and complex enterprise will ultimately depend upon the astronauts' ability to grow potatoes.