" Faced with the sky we imagine gods, faced with the ocean we imagine islands. Absence is terrifying, and so we fill the gaps in our knowledge with invented things. These bring us comfort, but they conflict, too, with our desire for certainty and understanding. And sometimes that desire gives us back the absences we sought to fill. "

― Malachy Tallack , The Un-Discovered Islands: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes