The high reviews are valid. I can't speak to using this for books as some other reviewers have, but I certainly believe that this tote would be useful for college students and teachers. We use it to bring our groceries back from the store. We do have a car, but frankly, we enjoy the walks and NOT having to drive the store when making a quantity of purchases that would be too much/heavy to carry back by hand. As other reviewers mentioned, this is a sturdy, high quality tote. I'd not push it's ability too far - I don't recommend carrying hand weights with spare weights, for example; I don't think it's capable of hauling THAT much weight. But for groceries and other such items, this is a great item that doesn't make you look like a "bag lady" pushing one of those wheeled "cage" style carts down the street.

The handle could be a little taller, and it would be nice to be able to push it in front of you at times instead of having to always pull it behind you...but these are minor nits. We're going to be getting a second one so that we can do even more shopping on foot and avoid fighting car traffic on as many errands as possible.