Scintillating Einstein
by David Arthur Walters

According to Kansas City Star reporter James Hart, the Library Board of the Kansas City Public Library yawned and said Einstein's work was not "scintillating." (The Kansas City Star, 'Literary giants to grace new library,' March 1, 2004)

"Darwin and Einstein both were important scientists, but were - yawn - less than scintillating."

"Scintillating," meaning that Darwin's and Einstein's works are not brilliant, do not SPARKLE or shine, just are not flashy enough to awaken the minds of the Library Board trustees, who are lately more interested in providing passive recreation for the community than an interactive higher education according to the foundational principle laid down in the 1906 Missouri Library Association's Handbook:

"Library workers and friends also know that the library is the only college of the masses - too often the only school after the 'three R's'.... The library should be all but as familiar as the school house, and but a short time in following it."

Well, now, I have already taken the Library Board to task in respect to Darwin; of course the trustees did not respond. Several members of the community have urged me to also protest against their disrespect for Einstein's work,

"Something must be said," said a downtown banker.

Well, many are those much more competent than I am in these matters who believe that Einstein's work sparkles, and they have said a great deal about it. For instance, Paul Davies, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Adelaide in Australia, made these remarks in his book, About Time, Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, published by Simon and Schuster in 1995:

"The story of time in the twentieth century is overwhelmingly the story of Einstein's time.... Although Einstein's theory of relativity is nearly a century old, its bizarre predictions are still not widely known. Invariably people learn of them with delight, fear and perplexity.... Einstein's work triggered a revolution in our understanding of the subject, but the consequences have yet to be fully understood...."

"Aristotle, Galileo Galilei, Issac Newton, Charles Darwin - these names stand out from the crowd as the shakers and movers of scientific revolutions. Among this roll call of scientific genius, one name best symbolized both intellectual SPARKLE and the instigation of dramatic change in our world view: Albert Einstein."

Emphasis added, of course. Need I say something in addition? Perhaps I shall, later on. In the interim I recommend that the members of the library board read Einstein's collection, Ideas and Opinions, a book full of scintillating writing.