Richard Preston
Richard Preston
Richard Prestonis a New Yorker writer and bestselling author who has written books about infectious disease, bioterrorism, redwoods and other subjects, as well as fiction. Whether journalistic or fictional, his writings are based on extensive background research and interviews...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 August 1954
CountryUnited States of America
bringing tigers
Green darners never attack people, but they have been seen bringing down hummingbirds. They are the Bengal tigers of the microworld.
expanding human monster perceive population qualities science terrifying
Here's what's terrifying about Ebola. Ebola is invisible. It's a monster without a face. With the science that we have now, we can perceive Ebola as being not one thing but as a swarm, and the swarm is moving through the human population and expanding its numbers. It has the qualities of a monster.
areas basic biological california creating entire massive medical population remove third ticking time urban
We're creating these massive urban areas in the Third World. It's like you take the entire population of California and put it in one city. Then you remove basic sanitation and medical services, and you have a ticking biological time bomb.
across annual creatures goes great migrations mostly north occur though
The annual flight of the dragonflies goes mostly unnoticed, though it is one of the great migrations of flying creatures that occur across North America.
cause few genome goes keys music piano sound thousand turns
The genome could be thought of as a kind of piano with twenty-five thousand keys. In some cases, a few keys may be out of tune, which can cause the music to sound wrong. In others, if one key goes dead the music turns into a cacophony, or the whole piano self-destructs.
ability air beat burst direction fierce four gives hunting insect known stop switch wings
The dragonfly is an exceptionally beautiful insect and a fierce carnivore. It has four wings that beat independently. This gives it an ability to maneuver in the air with superb dexterity. A dragonfly can put on a burst of speed, stop on a dime, hover, fly backward, and switch direction in a flash. This is a hunting behavior known as hawking.
coming continents islands millions palace rooms sealed smaller sort walls
The earth's biosphere could be thought of as a sort of palace. The continents are rooms in the palace; islands are smaller rooms. Each room has its own decor and unique inhabitants; many of the rooms have been sealed off for millions of years. The doors in the palace have been flung open, and the walls are coming down.
crowns exhaust irregular tallest
The crown of a supertall redwood has a towering, cloudy, irregular form, and the crowns of the tallest redwoods can sometimes look like the plume of exhaust from a rocket taking off.
moving school shining
During climbs into taller trees, I was occasionally able to look down on the backs of birds, which shine with reflected sunlight as they move through the green depths of the canopy, like schools of fish.
loneliness space world
He liked the loneliness of inner space, the sense of being forgotten by the world.
people dying viruses
When people asked him why he didn't work with those viruses, he replied, I don't particularly feel like dying.
ebola way easy
To mess around with Ebola is an easy way to die. Better to work with something safer, such as anthrax.
space suits monkeys
Humans in space suits make monkeys nervous.
earth parasites attempting
The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by human parasite.