simplicity... 

Hmmm, pertoleum?

Actually, both sides have their stronger and weaker points and depending on the setup of the experiment, you will get relatively or absolutely different results.

Just as an example, it is being said that (don't remember the source, but as far as I remember, I read this from some scientific article) when searching, men are checking every object they see versus the searched one, while women are analysing the whole scene and at once check if the object is in it. So, looking from that perspective, woman are a LOT wiser than men. But if you just go and check number of accomplished woman scientists versus men, you will get absolutely opposing result and will probably decide that woman brain is inferior to man's.

So, I would just say, no way to know? And, why would you care???

Yeah, I can read books of Tolstoi, but can I understand them? Hmmm, perhaps, if I use a good dictionary. I was reading a novel by Tolstoi (by the name Kazak, as far as I remember), and about 20 pages out of 30 were about description of the nature of that area. I do read a lot in Russian (not necessarily literary material, but mostly about engineering, etc.), but definitely not enough, because I didn't know most of the adjectives used in the novel. :) I prefer Lermontov (and Dostoevsky?), he uses a lot easier language.

And, yes you made a good point. Encyclopedic information is documented in a lot better fashion in electronic sources. I know no alternative to Wikipedia. A lot easier to find any searched data instead of getting bored by the index section of some hard printed encyclopedia. And, if you can't find enough information in one language, just switch to another one. :)

I loved the book "Improbable" by Adam Fawer, but was thrilled by "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Insulted_and_Humiliated" title="The Insulted and Humiliated" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(6, 69, 173); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The Insulted and Humiliated</a>" by Dostoevsky, couldn't keep my tears...