Voting Station

Wade Davis

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Scientist

The Resume

    (December 14, 1953- )
    Born in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Anthropologist and ethnobotanist
    Studies indigenous cultures and psychoactive plants
    Wrote the books 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' (1985), 'Passage of Darkness' (1988), 'Shadows in the Sun' (1993), 'Nomads of the Dawn' (1995), 'One River' (1996), 'The Clouded Leopard' (1998), 'Light at the Edge of the World' (2001), 'The Lost Amazon' (2004) and 'Grand Canyon' (2008)

Why he might be annoying:

    He said he majored in botany because 'I couldn't believe you could cut flowers and get paid for it.'
    His claim that tetrodotoxin from puffer fish was the key ingredient in zombie powder has been disputed by other scientists.
    'Skeptical Inquirer' called him 'an excellent example of a credulous foreigner taken advantage of by local tricksters.'
    Since one of the ingredients in zombie powder is flesh from a dead person, he commissioned a grave robbery in Haiti.
    The film adaptation of 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' was not very faithful to the book. ('It was a terrible movie.')

Why he might not be annoying:

    As a teen, he worked for the Canadian park service as a ranger, river guide and forest fire fighter.
    He noted about the 'Serpent and the Rainbow' film, 'Name me a graduate student you know who would turn down a quarter million dollars for the rights to their PhD thesis.'
    He was named an Explorer for the Millennium by the National Geographic Society.
    He was described as 'a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.'
    He said about the Indiana Jones comparisons he attracts, 'It's never as romantic as people think.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying