I Am Not Making This Up: Ep. 48 The Greatest Loss of Knowledge that Never Happened.

i am not making this up podcast – Tracy S. Morris

The library of Alexandria may have contained between 40,000 and 400,000 scrolls in it’s heyday.

On September 2, a fire destroyed the National Museum of Brazil, taking with it 90 percent of the museum’s collection. This included recordings of dead languages and zoological and botanical specimens.

When we think about large, destructive loss of accumulated knowledge, we think of the burning of the Library of Alexandria. But the burning of the library may be a myth. The library may have actually burned more than once. Or it may not have burned at all, instead gradually declining into obscurity.

Editorial Note:

Apologies for this show being over a week late. Due to the changes in the household from the oldest child starting first grade, I’m figuring out my new work/life balance. It’s going about as well as one can expect.

Editorial Note 2: I received an e-mail stating that I pronounced New Madrid Fault incorrectly in the last podcast. I’m not from the St. Louis area. I am from the Arkansas Ozarks, however. So I pronounced it the way I hear it local to me, (Mah-Drid).

According to this article from the Riverfront Times, that is the correct, local way to say it. But I’m also told in the e-mail that locals pronounce it Mae-Drid. Sounds like even in that region, the word might be contentious.