Quotes from Douglas Preston

Our capacity for violence is greater, but not necessarily our desire.

God bless the disgruntled employee—no one does more to bring openness to government.

In AD 426, a ruler named K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' (Sun-Eyed Resplendent Quetzal Macaw) came down from the Maya city of Tikal, in Guatemala, and seized control of the settlement of Copán in a coup or invasion. He became Copán's first "Holy Lord" and launched a dynasty of sixteen lords that would elevate Copán into a glorious city dominating the area for centuries.

Did you know that all ladies at Louis XIV's court at Versailles were required to have a thirteen-inch waist or less? And that their dresses weighed between thirty and forty pounds?

Charles backed down. He is reputed to have said, Capon, Capon, vous êtes un mauvais chapon. 'Capon, Capon, you are one evil chicken.' " "Chicken jokes are quite prevalent in the family," the countess said. The count said, "We eat capons at Christmas. It's a little cannibalistic.

Powder Valley State Hospital outside of Allentown, nine months before. Powder Valley Hospital, she quickly discovered, specialized in long-term rehabilitation of neurologic trauma. And like King of Prussia, it wasn't far from Scranton.

From many bragging inscriptions of glorious combat and deeds, we know the Maya city-states were belligerent and engaged in frequent battles with each other and with their neighbors. These conflicts only intensified as the wealth and populations of the Maya city-states increased, swelling their hunger for resources.

one day she started making this gesture. It wasn't an ASL sign at all, and I realized with a shock—I'm sorry, but you won't believe this—that she was crossing herself. I can hardly believe it now when I look back, that this . . . this man was attempting to make Jennie into a Christian. Why the Archibalds put up with it is entirely beyond my comprehension.

So I'm in the American Secret Service? Damn." "It was all reported in the press the next day.

NO PUEDO DORMIR

Encuentre al hombre que hizo esto," she said

Of the dead'… hmmm… 'speak well or say nothing.

But now I feel rather like Br'er Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch, because I have found you here, in charge. Just like when we first met, back at the Natural History Museum.

incipient scurvy. If they can't take vitamin D

Even with the intense excitement and high spirits, the hike back to camp was grueling, as the steep hillsides were impossible to descend except in a semi-controlled sort of falling slide.

This was my number 17 on the roulette wheel.

Dr. Nash would give Dave and the rest of us a formulation of the drug called liposomal amphotericin. In this form, the toxic drug is encapsulated in microscopic spherules made of lipids (fats). This makes the drug safer, reducing some of the most dangerous side effects. But the lipid droplets can cause disturbing side effects of their own.

Shortly after Dave was diagnosed with leish, Tom Weinberg learned from the CDC that he, too, had the disease. Chris Fisher, Mark Adams, and Juan Carlos Fernández went to the NIH and were also diagnosed with it. All were treated except Juan Carlos; Dr. Nash recognized that his immune system appeared to be fighting it off and decided to delay treatment. It was the right decision, and Juan Carlos ended up leish-free without going through the rigors of amphotericin B.

it is the intention to do wickedness that is this world's true evil.

The myths of the White City, the City of the Monkey God, a Casa Blanca or Kaha Kamasa, have a similar arc: There was once a great city in the mountains struck down by a series of catastrophes, after which the people decided the gods were angry and left, leaving behind their possessions. Thereafter it was shunned as a cursed place, forbidden, visiting death on those who dared enter.

Because amphotericin is expensive and not available in Honduras, the Honduran members of the expedition were being treated with an older drug, a pentavalent antimonial compound.

This drug kills the parasite while sparing (one hopes) the patient. As bad as ampho B is, this one is worse: Even in the best scenarios it has dreadful side effects. We heard from Virgilio that Oscar, who had been bitten on the right side of his face, had almost died of the treatment and was recovering in seclusion in Mexico. He would have a nasty scar for life; he later grew a beard to cover it up and declined to speak of his experience or do any further work at T1.

interjecting our and we into his advice

The ability to have sex gives leishmania a tremendous evolutionary advantage. It is the main reason it has thrived and spread for a hundred million years, infecting dinosaurs and people, becoming one of the most successful diseases (from its own point of view) in the world.