ST. JOHNSBURY - If you think you know everything about the middle ages, you may want to think again.Author Nancy Marie Brown was at the Catamount Arts Center for their weekly OSHER series.

Brown's book "The Abacus and The Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages" discusses and debunks myths or assumptions people may have had about what the middle ages were all about.

"It teaches people a different way of looking at the middle ages," said Brown.  "It was a vibrant scientific community and there were people asking all kinds of questions of authority and learning all kinds of things that we didn't know back then," Brown says.

Brown says it took her nearly three years just to compile the research she needed to begin the book.  She also traveled across Europe searching for scholars and experts to interview.