PERFECT UNDERSTANDING "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, numbed by the false notion that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." Isaac Asimov, the villain in this novel is ignorance, the hero is understanding. A frontier is defined as "an unsettled region, an extreme part of a country" statistically a frontier is an area having no fewer than two inhabitants per square mile. It took a lot more than just farming to settle a land, there was also a necessity for a social evolution. The advantages of a new start in life, free land, freedom to follow a dream without fear of interruption etc. also had its disadvantages, no churches, no schools, no libraries, even local governments had to be formed. This story takes place on the Ohio frontier in the last of the eighteenth and midway through the nineteenth centuries. The main characters are an eighteen-year old lad that is intelligent enough to know he needs more intelligence and an elderly gentleman, with a great degree of intelligence that has no outlet for it. A partnership is formed and frustrations are laid aside as the two men declare a war on ignorance. It's a joy to see a young man grow in intelligence and an older man achieve his lifetime imaginings. Both men come to the same conclusion, that understanding is the salvation of the world.