chaotic order

( Note to the reader: This is a lengthy essay, easily a twenty-minute read - if not more. I wrote this while waiting for my flight to take off from New Jersey on Thursday night. Will and Ariel Durant passed away within two weeks of each other between October 23rd and November 9th, 1981. I consider myself fortunate to have read Durant's fascinating work early enough, and be transformed by it. In a joint-life spanning nearly seventy years, the Durants wrote and lectured profusely. Many of their initial works are out of print and available only at rare-books stores at high prices. I am again privileged to own and to have read most of them, but few are still eluding my intense search. I owe my intellectual interests and development to the Durants. When I realized it was October 24th, and I had about two hours of time, I quickly wrote this piece condensing the story of my first acquaintance with Durant's work, and the story of their lives as best as I could remember without note