The fossil legacy (Bryson)
March 22nd, 2007 | Published in Biology, Nature, History, Science, Quotes
Only about one bone in a billion, it is thought, ever becomes fossilized. If that is so, it means that the complete fossil legacy of all the Americans alive today – that’s 270 million people with 206 bones each – will only be about fifty bones, one-quarter of a complete skeleton. That’s not to say, of course, that any of these bones will ever actually be found.
–Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), 283-4