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“When you’ve waited two hundred million years, you can also wait six hundred;”
― The Complete Cosmicomics
― The Complete Cosmicomics
“You can always judge a person by how they treat animals.”
― The House in the Cerulean Sea
― The House in the Cerulean Sea
“I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all.”
― The Sirens of Titan
― The Sirens of Titan
“For many Westerners, “it’s natural” seems to mean “it’s good.” This view is wrong and comes from shopping in supermarkets and living in landscaped environments. Plants evolved toxins to deter animals, fungi, and bacteria from eating them. The list of “natural” foods that need processing to detoxify them goes on and on. Early potatoes were toxic, and the Andean peoples ate clay to neutralize the toxin. Even beans can be toxic without processing. In California, many hunter-gatherer populations relied on acorns, which, similar to manioc, require a labor intensive, multiday leaching process. Many small-scale societies have similarly exploited hardy, tropical plants called cycads for food. But cycads contain a nerve toxin. If not properly processed, they can cause neurological symptoms, paralysis, and death. Numerous societies, including hunter-gatherers, have culturally evolved an immense range of detoxification techniques for cycads. By contrast with our species, other animals have far superior abilities to detoxify plants. Humans, however, lost these genetic adaptations and evolved a dependence on cultural know-how, just to eat.”
― The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
― The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
Science Book Club for the Curious
— 581 members
— last activity Apr 10, 2026 05:33AM
Feeling inquisitive? Looking for good conversation? Love science and books? The Science Book Club for the Curious is just the thing for you. This virt ...more
History, Medicine, and Science: Nonfiction and Fiction
— 1542 members
— last activity Oct 14, 2025 06:03PM
Discussion about the fascinating stories of our scientific and medical past
Francophonie
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— last activity 23 hours, 47 min ago
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European Literature in Translation
— 171 members
— last activity Jun 11, 2025 11:08AM
This group explores European literature in translation (i.e. it generally excludes works originally written in English, but we are bound to wander at ...more
The Mookse and the Gripes
— 2162 members
— last activity 12 hours, 7 min ago
Forum for spirited and convivial discussion of fiction from around the world, with particular though not exclusive focus on 20th and 21st century fict ...more
Mehrsa’s 2025 Year in Books
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