From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance

Jim Al-Khalili

Start date: October 1, 2017

Finish date: October 31, 2017

Discussion: Book Club 2017

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Book Club 2017

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What Members Thought

Oct 01, 2017 David Rubenstein rated it it was ok

Shelves: history

Jim Al-Khalili has managed to take a fascinating subject--and make it seem boring. The book floods the reader with facts, names, places, with the hope that the reader will make sense of it all. There are interesting insights in this book, but they are scattered throughout the book, and not easy to find. This book reads like a history major's doctoral thesis. This is unfortunate, because it is clear that the author has put an enormous amount of research into this book. But I felt like I was drown ...more

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Oct 25, 2017 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, academic-notations, science, history, math-horrors-involved, non-fiction

'The House of Wisdom' is a thorough history of science in the Arabic countries up to the fifteenth century.

Besides including biographies of early Arabic scientists, British-Iraqi physicist and author Jim al-Khalili shows how individual Arabic geniuses and polymaths eagerly sought Ancient Greek texts on science, encouraged by the leaders of Middle-Eastern empires to do so. Libraries and universities were built, experimentation was funded, brilliant students were encouraged, and ideas were freely 'The House of Wisdom' is a thorough history of science in the Arabic countries up to the fifteenth century.

Besides including biographies of early Arabic scientists, British-Iraqi physicist and author Jim al-Khalili shows how individual Arabic geniuses and polymaths eagerly sought Ancient Greek texts on science, encouraged by the leaders of Middle-Eastern empires to do so. Libraries and universities were built, experimentation was funded, brilliant students were encouraged, and ideas were freely discussed. While Europe was in the dark ages, culture, technological advancement and education flourished in the Middle East. However, it all stopped in the fifteenth century. Islam no longer could tolerate the ideas of science which clearly were contradicting the religious ideas in the Qur'an. Luckily, through the Arabic conquest of Spain in the twelfth century, Europe finally got their hands on translated Ancient Greek and Arabic books written by brilliant Near East and Indian scientists, astronomers and mathematicians shortly before Islamist religious fundamentalists began to destroy and burn their superb educated legacy of centuries.

Without question, the Western World would not exist as it does without the discoveries of these brilliant Arabic men who were nurtured by literate Middle-Eastern empires and early Greek science. Then religious Islamic fundamentalism shut down any education, philosophies and scientific studies which conflict with the Qur'an. The continuing disputes of hardliner fundamentalists and Islamic dictators over which religious Islamic sects and tribes should be allowed to live or die because they each consider their Islamic neighbors' differing local flavors of understanding the Qur'an as heresy punishable with death continues to occupy hardline theocratic Islamic and Arabic countries to this day.

Sad.

'The House of Wisdom' is a history of Arabic science written by a scientist, and so it has intense sections about math since Arabic, Persian and Indian scientists and mathematicians invented entire new maths. OK, so, five of the chapters were way above my pay grade.

There are huge academic sections in the back of the book: notes, a glossary of hundreds of famous Arabic scientists, and an index.

Before maintaining stories in the Qur'an became more important than encouraging brilliant educated scientists, it is clear thousands of Near East scientists studied astronomy, medicine, chemistry, biology, the natural sciences, material sciences and architecture, which created a formerly vibrant society in the Middle-East. The world owes these Arabic, Indian and Persian men much. ...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Rakan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, history-and-biographies

كتاب الرواد يلقي الضوء على عظماء تناستهم كتب التاريخ، ساهموا في مسيرة البشر العلمية. عظماء امثال جابر ابن حيان، الكندي، الخوارزمي، ابن الهيثم، ابن سينا، البيروني، الفارابي، الجاحظ، الجزري، ابن خلدون، عمر الخيام، الرازي، وغيرهم الكثير. بروفيسور الفيزياء النظرية (العراقي الأصل) جيم الخليلي، يأخذنا في رحلة عبر التاريخ، الى عصور الاسلام الاولى. وتحديداً الى عصرها الذهبي، وما رافقه من حركات فكرية وعلمية ضخمة.

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Jun 20, 2011 Kathy Anne rated it it was amazing

Wow this book is amazing,this is such a mysterios period in humanities history but this author sheds a lot of light on some of the mystery of losing all of this knowledge...5*

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Dec 23, 2019 Greg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-ebooks, z-library-ebook

I learned a ton and would definitely recommend this book, but be prepared for lots of names and dates. Many chapters bounce quickly through a lot of information. The author does a good job of outlining different theories and interpretations when uncertainty exists. He also does a great job of peeling back the layers of how much some of the big Western names owe to earlier figures in the Arabic-speaking world.

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Jun 20, 2011 Kathy Anne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is for those of us that somehow missed this period of history,wondering how this can possibly be after reading the book.It really should be a part of collage histoy,if not HS

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