Stuart D. Lee and Elizabeth Solopova make an attempt at a summary, which runs as follows. The Silmarillion describes events presented as factual but taking place before Earth's actual recorded history. What happened is processed through the generations as folk-myths and legends, especially among the (Old) English. Before the Fall of Numenor, the world was flat. In the Fall, it became round; further geological events reshaped the continents into the Earth as it now is. All the same, the old tales survive here and there, resulting in mentions of Dwarves and Elves in real Medieval literature. Thus, Tolkien's imagined mythology is an attempt to reconstruct our pre-history. Lee and Solopova comment that Only by understanding this can we fully realize the true scale of his project and comprehend how enormous his achievement was.