Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. His two main series are the Alex Benedict series and the Priscilla Hutchins series...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
sorry integrity character
Throughout our long and sorry history it has been men who supposed themselves to be exemplars of integrity who have done all the damage. Every crusade, whether for decent literary standards or to cover women's bodies or to free the holy land, had been launched, endorsed, and enthusiastically perpetrated by men of character.
unity culture looks
The cultures we can look at had already grasped the essential unity of nature. No board of gods can survive that knowledge.
intelligent assuming individual
Don't assume that a species is intelligent because it produces intelligent individuals.
doe type happens
How does it happen that the most intractable types always rise to the top?
men thinking views
Man has always seen himself the peak of creation. The part of the universe that thinks. The purpose for it all. It's no doubt a gratifying view, but the universe may have a different opinion.
people matter admire
Show me what a people admire, and I will tell you everything about them that matters.
weapons idiot
It can provide horrendous weapons to idiots.
may reason wells
Truth, beaten down, may well rise again. But there's a reason it gets beaten down. Usually we don't like it very much.
stars heard knows
We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.
beach doe news
Tides are like politics. They come and go with a great deal of fuss and noise, but inevitably they leave the beach just as they found it. On those few occasions when major change does occur, it is rarely a good news.
intelligent men hands
There'd been studies over the years supporting the proposition that groups composed exclusively of women usually made intelligent decisions, that exclusively male groups did a bit less well, and that mixed groups did most poorly of all, by a substantial margin. It appeared that, when women were present, testosterone got the upper hand and men took greater risks than they might otherwise. Correspondingly, women in the mixed group tended to revert to roles, becoming more passive, and going along with whatever misjudgment the males might perpetrate.
queens recognition flaws
The queen of virtues is the recognition of one's own flaws.
ego challenges taught
Somewhere we taught ourselves that our opinions are more significant than the facts. And somehow we get our egos and our opinions and Truth all mixed up in a single package, so that when something does challenge one of the notions to which we subscribe, we react as if it challenges us.
grateful sunset punishment
Faith has its price. When misfortune strikes the true believer, he assumes he has done something to deserve punishment, but isn't quite certain what. The realist, recognizing that he lives in a Darwinian universe, is simply grateful to have made it to another sunset.