i felt the response was succinct and well rounded so i left off the second paragraph, but since you quoted it in full here i'll share my thoughts on that as wel

i felt the response was succinct and well rounded so i left off the second paragraph, but since you quoted it in full here i'll share my thoughts on that as well i hate this notion of 'the common man', it is self indulgent condescending jargon and it reeks of the 'what about the children' argument if i could get wells to define this vague label more clearly, then follow his criteria to find a group of people, give those people a copy of ulyses or wake, and if even only one gains some value from it.. what then? does the definition of 'common man' for wells herein actually only imply 'someone who hates this book as much as i do' honestly this paragraph is so filled with logical fallacies and lazy criticisms i'll just paste it here again in full with a few edits: "Now with regard to this [thought] experiment of yours. It’s a considerable thing because you are a very considerable man and you have in your crowded composition a mighty genius for expression [and calculation] which has escaped discipline. But I don’t think it gets anywhere. You have turned your back on common men—on their elementary needs and their restricted time and intelligence, and you have elaborated. What is the result? Vast riddles. Your last two works[the special and general theories of relativity] have been more amusing and exciting to write than they will ever be to read. Take me as a typical common reader. Do I get much pleasure from this work? No. Do I feel I am getting something new and illuminating as I do when I read Anrep’s dreadful translation of Pavlov’s badly written book on Conditioned Reflexes? No. So I ask: Who the hell is this [einstein] who demands so many waking hours of the few thousand I have still to live for a proper appreciation of his quirks and fancies and flashes of rendering?" you're right, best to just ignore it.. o and you better write him a letter telling him you intend to do so