In a whirlwind of activity, fast and furious even by the standards of Ismail Serageldin’s usual diversified and packed schedule, Serageldin went from management reviews within the library, to speaking at a celebration on the Arabic language with the minister of education and the governor of Alexandria, to giving awards to children who excelled in Arabic, to a meeting with the President and eminent persons of Alexandria University to present a lengthy lecture to engage them more fully with the upcoming biology conference in April, to a meeting with the Arab organizing committee for the Arab Reform Conference, which built on the detailed outcomes of the Egyptian meeting that took place two days before, to going to Cairo and speaking to the ladies of the “inner wheel” rotary clubs about the Library of Alexandria, to a meeting with the foreign Press association, to a meeting at the Institut d’Egypte where he gave a magisterial lecture and was inducted as a member in this oldest scientific institution outside of Europe, to a diplomatic dinner and on to the airport for an overnight trip to Europe and the USA. Whew!