LC, some of them are really quite good.....just depends on who the editor is and how much they abridged the book.........was turned on to several authors because of RD condensed books........I'd forgotten about them....thanks for reminding me...actually except for a few coffee table books those are the only books that you will find in my sister-in-law's house and I know that she's never read them.......how can you only own 10 books in your whole lifetime????? The biggest brag that she and her brother made was that at the 4 years of being at Texas A&M neither one of them had checked a book out of the library.........oh, my goodness, that's something to brag about...........don't get me wrong......they are smart but dumb at the same time..... I love them to death, however ..... but when we go their houses I always make sure that I have a stack of books to keep me company..........unless I want to read a boating magazine (nothing wrong with that---no plot, however) I'm on my own......