Of Books and Dinosaurs

"Reflections of a ten-year-old reminiscing over his first trip to the library"

Just for the heck of it, I will throw it out there: I am not so sure the dinosaurs existed. I know it sounds crazy, but the paleontological evidence is not there. Consider for a moment the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a word which in Greek/Latin means the “terrible lizard.” Of all of the Tyrannosauri Reges (Latin plural) in the world and all we have in the museums are artificial representations? You are probably asking yourself, Is this guy crazy? He used to teach college philosophy and he denies the dinosaurs? But I have questions:

1. Roughly how many Reges roamed the earth? 2. How far down were they deposited when they were found? 3. What regions were they found in? 4. What were the relative ages of the particular finds? 5. Are we to believe the dinosaurs were pre-Noah or Post-Noah, for all you Bible-believing paleontologists out there? 6. Did they have predators, and if not, should we not find an overabundance of Reges relative to other dinosaurs? 7. Why do we not find dinosaurs in the Bible? We find asses, sheep, camels, birds, elephants, turtles, etc., why not dinosaurs? 8. If dinosaurs existed, then why do we not read of them in the ancient writers, such as Cicero, St. Augustine, Horace, Thucydides, Aristotle, etc.? Where do we find them? Show me the ancient writers!

But enough of dinosaurs because this essay is less about dinosaurs and more about books. I remember the first time visiting a major library. The year was roughly 1982 and I convinced my mother to drive me to the main public library in downtown Louisville, KY. At first she refused, arguing that it was not safe for me to go to the library by myself. But I countered her argument by stating that I was ten years old, that it was a public library, that there were workers there, that I would not leave the library, that I ‘never got to go to the library',’ that I needed to expand my intellectual horizons, and that I was interested in World War II (and the grade-school library did not suffice). She became exasperated and off to the library I went.

I went to the second floor of the library and asked the librarian about his knowledge of World War II. I know now what I did not know then: Asking a librarian about his knowledge of World War II is like asking a little child about his knowledge of Aristotle. But we move on. I asked him, Who has written the most about World War II? He did not know. I then asked, Who caused World War II? “Adolph Hitler,” he answered. “Who maintains that Adolph Hitler did not cause World War II,” I asked? At this point the librarian knew that he was in way over his head. It only takes an inquisitive ten-year-old to prove that most public librarians are overmatched on the subject of World War II.

The librarian did the best that he could do and show me my way to the World War II section of the library. To be precise he walked me to section 940.53 of the Dewey Decimal System. And who created the Dewey Decimal System? The answer is Melvin. a.k.a. “Melville” Dewey (d.1931), co-founder of the American Library Association, founded in 1876. In 1895 Dewey founded the Lake Placid Club in Lake Placid, New York, located in the Adirondack Mountains. The Lake Placid Club explicitly forbade Jews from being members. What this really means is, Dewey was a Nazi and he did not realize it. If one were to visit the Lake Placid Club online he will find that there is no tab for “history.” Of course not. Why would the Lake Placid Club admit that it’s founding member denied Jews club membership? The club’s original rules stated, “No Jews or consumptives were allowed,” and that it was “impracticable to make exclusion to Jews or others excluded, even when of unusual personal qualification.” Of course Jews very often construct their own clubs forbidding non-Jews from attending.

Now, back to the essay. It is a shame that we now have a generation of children who will never experience a visit to the library, of speaking to an actual librarian, of speaking about an actual major event to a librarian, or of speaking to others at the library. We have entered the Zombie Age; the age of overweight geeks, of people who question their own sexual identity, of children who will be afraid to ask challenging questions, such as “What author says that Adolph Hitler was not responsible for World War II?” I want to live in a free world where ten-year-olds can walk into a library and ask, “Hey, who are the Holocaust Deniers and where can I find their books?” Unfortunately the Brave New World has arisen, and it is here to stay. We are living in the dictum uttered by George Orwell, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a face - forever.”