Paul Harstad is quoted [Red-Handed, July], “Egypt is a very interesting place… but why on Earth would they spend all that time, energy, and resources to build monuments to dead people?” To which a Rake editor has appended the comment “They should have built more libraries!” As a librarian myself, I applaud the sentiment, but feel obligated to point out that Egyptians built the greatest library of the ancient world—the Great Library of Alexandria. Likely if they’d built more, they would subsequently have been burned by invaders and other more practical people, like the one at Alexandria. Stone pyramids at least have the advantage of being rather less inflammable.
Dennis Lien
Minneapolis
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