Alfred Kinsey's Notes on Americans' Sex-Lives

Kinsey’s methods as a sex-researcher were forged with his entomological research. Studying wasps, he learned that the key to biological discovery is in large sample sizes—in collecting as much information as possible, and then charting individual variation. Even Kinsey recognized his scientific practice as a form of collecting:

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Taking notes, I’ve come to realize, is a form of collecting. I’ve never been interested in collecting physical things, but when it comes to beautiful literary quotes, I have thousands of notebook entries.