Lessons on Extinctions

I'm compiling a list of quotes and notes to organize into a long review of Mass Extinctions and Their Aftermath and Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities : The Causes of Mass Extinctions. Tony Hallam was a coatuhor on the former and the sole author on the latter so they are actually very good to review together. You can see rather big differences in the style and some of the opinions based on the fact that there are two people writing the first book (with differing opinions) and they were published at different junctures.

While reading them and compiling last night a semi-Nicollian quote came to mind:

If you are going to take the time to invade another country, burn their villages, desecrate their temples, and vandalize their idols, one should take care to scout their territory first. A thorough understanding of the lay of the land is especially necessary when making war upon the feral, unwashed horde nation of geologists.

This came to mind after reading some of the astronomers forays into paleontology, mass extinctions, and bollide impacts. It made me cringe a bit since the mistakes made were often very obvious ones to someone that would have done at least a literature preview. Hallam wrote an especially snarky comment about it which is what prompted the 'quote' to pop into mind.