Gardner's claim of plagiarism of Quimby's writings by Mrs. Eddy simply doesn't hold water. Quimby did reach the point of recognizing to a meager extend the influence of the human mind on the body. So by necessity, some of Mrs. Eddy's writings might seem to parallel Quimby's writings regarding the human mind/body relationship. But that's as far as any seeming similarity can be found between the two. Here's excerpts about what Mrs. Eddy says about Quimby in her book, Miscellaneous Writings:

"Having practised homoeopathy, it never occurred to theauthor to learn his [Quimby's] practice, but she did ask him how manipulation could benefit the sick. He answered kindly and squarely, in substance, 'Because it conveys electricity to them.' That was the sum of what he taught her of his medical profession.

"The readers of my books cannot fail to see that metaphysical therapeutics, as in Christian Science, are farther removed from such thoughts than the nebulous system is from the earth.

"I never heard him say that matter was not as real as Mind, or that electricity was not as potential or remedial, or allude to God as the divine Principle of all healing. He certainly had advanced views of his own, but they commingled error with truth, and were not Science."

Throughout the latter years of her time here on earth, Mrs. Eddy was constantly being accused of plagiarizing the writings of Quimby. Many of her detractors claimed that he was the one who healed her of her many years of invalidism. The truth is that she seemed to derive temporary benefit from his treatments, but soon after, lapsed into an even worse physical state. Eventually she was completely healed through her own study of the Bible and her faith in a higher power, far transcending the electricity/magnetism techniques that Quimby employed. It's obvious that Gardner didn't study Mrs. Eddy's writings sufficiently to discern the vast gulf between her teachings, and those of Quimby. And as other reviewers have noted, he misstates many facts regarding the life of Mary Baker Eddy, which seriously compromises and undermines his arguments from the starting line to the finish line. Don't waste your money on this one.

After reading Gillian Gill's well researched biography of the founder of the Christian Science church, Gardner's book is incredibly disappointing. Misconstrued facts, while presented in a persuasive way, demolish his thesis. Gill's work, (a non-Christian Scientist just like Gardner) is the antithesis of Gardner's. She is fair, evaluative, does not editorialize, and while she tells things that Christian Scientists may or may not appreciate, she is honest to the core. Gardner would have done well to peruse the work of a TRUE writer (Gill) before attempted his own falsified fiction of an American religious figure.

You won't find any spin from brainwashed followers in this book. The truth shall set you free.