I have this fantasy that in future negotiations over climate change – instead of going into that room and saying, ‘I’m defending Chinese interests,’ or ‘I’m defending Australian interests’ – there will also be an identity inside of each of the negotiators thinking, ‘I’m also defending human interests.’ David Christian Read Quote
If, in schools, we keep teaching that history is divided into American history and Chinese history and Russian history and Australian history, we’re teaching kids that they are divided into tribes. And we’re failing to teach them that we also, as human beings, share problems that we need to work together with. David Christian Read Quote
I remember very vividly, as a child growing up in England, living through the Cuban Missile Crisis. For a few days, the entire biosphere seemed to be on the verge of destruction. And the same weapons are still here, and they’re still armed. If we avoid that trap, others are waiting for us. David Christian Read Quote
We inhabit an obscure planet, in an obscure galaxy, around an obscure sun, but on the other hand, modern human society represents one of the most complex things we know. David Christian Read Quote
If historians don’t tell stories at the scales of creation myths, someone else will. David Christian Read Quote
Living organisms are created by chemistry. We are huge packages of chemicals. David Christian Read Quote
Modern scientific knowledge appeared piecemeal. Historians wrote about human history; physicists tackled the material world; and biologists studied the world of living organisms. But there were few links between these disciplines, as researchers focused on getting the details right. David Christian Read Quote
I had this feeling that, somehow, we ought to be teaching not just the history of particular nations or particular regions, but the history of humanity. David Christian Read Quote
