Science has become that horrible storyteller … who gives us all the details nobody cares about.

DeWitt’s quip criticizes not science itself but the way it is often communicated—especially in classrooms and popular explanations. By likening “science” to a tedious storyteller who dwells on irrelevant details, he highlights a common failure of instruction: presenting facts, terminology, and procedural minutiae without first establishing a compelling narrative problem, stakes, or sense of discovery. The line implies that scientific ideas become meaningful when framed as stories of questions, experiments, surprises, and changing models of the world. Its significance lies in advocating for science communication that prioritizes curiosity and conceptual coherence over exhaustive detail, so learners can care about the “why” before the “what.”