As an experienced real estate broker who has watched many souls fall in and out of love with their houses, myelf included, I congratulate Professor Garber for digging more deeply into our national passtime, our passion and now, our only pension fund. No other serious scholar has bothered. How can this be? Just as "Freakonomics" unpacked our secret, self-defeating relationships with money, Garber reveals our profound need for house-love in its many forms. Home buying and home making are deliciously Erotic fantasies in the most classical, general sense of Eros, of course, but I'd like to add, before you sign a title document, committing yourself to buying that darling cottage or marring that darling guy, take a look at this witty, scholarly book.

For those interested in the difference between house and home, this IS the book. Not only is it an intense review of the comparison of house and home, but it tackles the topic of the contemporary obsession with the past and instant tradition. References a lot of literary texts as well as psycho-analytical studies and "Emily Post" style writings.

While I sympathise with the earnest souls who criticised Garber for failing to look at homelessness, disability and the spread of AIDS in this book, I also wonder if their senses of humour have died. Yes, the book is frothy, but it's funny, too - the stories are hilarious even if they do deal with the baser, greedier side of middle-class and middle-aged aspirations. And in chronicling those ugly yearnings to excel, Garber shows us - without labouring it - where the greed that generates a refusal to spend tax dollars on the poor has its home.

Meanwhile, the humourless get what they deserve with earnest but boneheaded stuff like Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human.

This is a fascinating concept, and a marketable one as well, in light of America's current infatuation with the Edifice Complex. Considering the author's scholarly credentials, SEX AND REAL ESTATE should have been a absorbing book. "Should have" is the pivotal phrase here. No question that Garber's body of knowledge is vast--she hops all over the map with only the most tenuous connection to her thesis. Maybe she merely was showing off how much smarter she is than the average reader. While I have no doubt but that this fact is true, the book still quickly descends into boring psychobabble. Anyone seeking enlightenment is bound to be disappointed.

Don't excoriate Garber for the title of this book; authors typically don't choose the title or write jacket copy. It is true that the book has little to do with sex. It should probably be titled "Miscellaneous thoughts on American houses". If you're about to buy, remodel, or sell a house, this book will make a nice comforting read in the tub. It is sort of like watching Jerry Springer or Oprah and realizing that there are plenty of people whose lives are even more messed up than one's own. Skip the book if you're not about to engage in a huge real estate transaction of some sort.