Scholarly, but anything but academic and precise. I suppose that was not the purpose of this book. As an anthology of variety it is of value - I prefer to see samples of theories that the author tries to smuggle into the text while maltreating it aside with reference to writing in "bene discendi" (the art of talking well about what one knows). To a layman it may be grossly misleading, I found some factual errors throughout, but let us not nitpick - I also learned some interesting things. The book is a hypothesis that attempts to argue by twisting facts. As art it succeeds, as a long feuilleton perhaps, but I definitely would not recommend it as exhaustive research. I would recommend it as Topoi Trivia, it was enjoyable to read. Thank you ( )