&i;`He has not written this work for specialists; it is aimed rather at the general reader. It operates on a common-sense level and, ultimately, it makes sense. So, whatever the issues one may legitimately have with its `details', in its general thrust this small book is heftier than the volumes of inaccessible, jargon-wrapped material produced every year by some academic historians and philosophers. Rocks of Ages should be read not only in our colleges, it should be read in our temples and mosques, in our churches and synagogues.'&o;S.Nomanul Haq, Nature