Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

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

Jim Al-Khalili

3.92 · Rating details · 890 ratings · 133 reviews

A myth-shattering view of the Islamic world's myriad scientific innovations and the role they played in sparking the European Renaissance. Many of the innovations that we think of as hallmarks of Western science had their roots in the Arab world of the middle ages, a period when much of Western Christendom lay in intellectual darkness. Jim al- Khalili, a leading British-Ir ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published March 31st 2011 by Penguin Press (first published September 30th 2010)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The House of Wisdom, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie

World History AP 2013

192 books — 27 voters

Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris

I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

The Ornament of the World by María Rosa Menocal

People of Islam

10 books — 2 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.92 ·

Rating details

· 890 ratings · 133 reviews

More filters

Sort order

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

Oct 01, 2017 David 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

flag 29 likes · Like · see review

Nov 28, 2017 Zanna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: stem, bechdel-fail

An interesting feature of al-Idrisi's map, as with all medieval Arabic maps, is that it is drawn upside down, with the north at the bottom.

I've read a couple of other books on this subject, and in terms of thoroughness and synthesis, it's definitely the best one. It seemed extensively and carefully researched. It's arranged narratively, flowing through time from one time and place and person to another, making detours and links where appropriate, so it's the kind of book you'd want to read cover to cover rather than use as a quick reference. I especially appreciated the attention given to mathematics and algebra; all too easily we can take those awesome technologies for granted. As well as the original work done during Golden Age of the title, Al-Khalili investigates their sources (the numerals we use first came from India, for example, while much of the influential medical, geometric, and philosophical material translated into Arabic during this time came from Greece) and historical context, searching for explanations throughout.

I found everything in the book interesting, but I was bothered by the near-total absence of women (a queen was mentioned in one sentence if a remember correctly, and Al-Khalili says something about his mother having to dress a certain way to visit a certain place, and there are a number of citations of books apparently authored or co-authored by people with seemingly feminine names). Apparently there is no historical record whatsoever of women participating in the Golden Age of Arabic science, or we can assume (hopefully) that Al-Khalili would have mentioned it. But still, I found myself constantly wondering what women were doing. If I had been writing this history, I could not have avoided exploring that question.

Another thing that bothered me somewhat, was what seemed to me an excessive focus on which scientist, thinker or polymath is the greatest, when sometimes it seemed that contributions weren't really commensurable. Talking up the importance of all these guys didn't really need so much comparing. I started to feel I could have made a pack of top trumps out of the cast of characters.

Al-Khalili defines his subject by language rather than by religion, because many of the participants in the Golden Age were not Muslims. This is also a compromise, and is somewhat disrupted by the last chapter on "Science and Islam Today". Although not a Muslim himself, he draws on personal experience where Muslim culture colours the story, which I think is a very good thing. But Al-Khalili seemed to me to be writing not only for non-Arabic speakers, but for non-Muslim ones too, and his perspective seemed an outsider one, even an othering one at times... Maybe that's necessary, or better than the alternative (trying to step out of your own perspective) but it went along with a hint of New Atheist dogmatism to make me feel that, well... another book was possible. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2011 Natalie rated it it was amazing

A well written, insightfull and smart read.

Jim Al-Khalili is obviusly proud of his roots. And i like that.

Without being to missionary about it, he makes a good point in the fact that the Mideastern knowledge that started in Mesopotamian times and evolved all the way through our dark ages until the renaissance, was very influential on the occidents development of not only medicine, or architecture but also poetry, astronomie and art.

The questions of how and why the Islamic knowledge is suddenly r ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

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

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

'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

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2011 Jenny Brown rated it it was ok

I'm a long-time reader of books on the history of science. I'm fascinated with non-European cultures and have been reading heavily in that topic area. So this book should have been perfect for me, but instead it bored me.

Too often it read like a string of names and places with very little substantive information about the people being discussed. The author covers so many people that none of them are given much space save for a few mathematicians whose contributions are discussed so technically ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2014 Mary Craven rated it it was amazing

Excellent book filling in the gap of Western Civ. history. Answering how we left the Dark Ages and entered the Renaissance with shared knowledge, not our own invention. A strong case for world peace, understanding and tolerance.
While chemistry, algebra, medicine and so much more are written about, my favorite quote is "I shall mention in passing just one example of a gift from the Arabs that I for one am rather grateful: coffee - especially as it was originally banned in Europe as a 'Muslim drin ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2012 Sarah Dorra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

(This review is originally published at www.eventgate.net)

At school, one only gets to learn what he is taught. In the case of students in the Arab World, we only got to learn about Western scientists like Galileo and Einstein. It would be unfair though to claim that our curriculums left us entirely ignorant of our Arab and Muslim scientists because their names are still very familiar. Though their achievements may not. Feeling truly ashamed, I picked up Jim Al-Khalili's Pathfinders: The Golden A (This review is originally published at www.eventgate.net)

At school, one only gets to learn what he is taught. In the case of students in the Arab World, we only got to learn about Western scientists like Galileo and Einstein. It would be unfair though to claim that our curriculums left us entirely ignorant of our Arab and Muslim scientists because their names are still very familiar. Though their achievements may not. Feeling truly ashamed, I picked up Jim Al-Khalili's Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science in the hopes that reading about our early scientists may not just tell me about a long lost history barely spoken about. It could also be the reason we would, eventually, start laying the first bricks of the Renaissance which Arabs and Muslims have been awaiting for so long, though doing very little to see happen.

Al-Khalili takes us back to a time when the Islamic Empire stretched from India to Spain. It's a time when Muslims, and Arabs in general, excelled in every field there is before worldly matters. That is, until power struggles got the best of them and, which eventually led to the decline of their power until this very day.

It should be noted that, in Pathfinders, Al-Khalili probes the theories of Arab scientists and their origins from a scientific - and not a historical - approach. At places, it may require the reader to be familiar with the topic explained by Al-Khalili including the theories and concepts which he writes that 'We learn at school' since these are usually forgotten if not constantly used. Also, in his explanation of al-Biruni's method for measuring the height of a mountain, Al-Khalili writes: '(If you are not mathematically inclined you may want to skip the next few paragraphs.)' However, readers with no major scientific background should face no difficulty in grasping most of the topics tackled by Al-Khalili.

One thing that goes unnoticed is Al-Khalili's objective tone throughout the book. It's clear how much effort he put into tracing the origins of scientific theories, giving each issue as much focus as he gives to the explanation of the theory or the invention itself.

After presenting the marvels of the Arab world of science, Al-Khalili concludes his book with the question of why today's Arab World lags behind in science. He provides several hypothesis including religious and political. While this is true, the main reason the Arab world remains in a coma could be explained through the following words of Al-Khalili's: "But my point is not about the scientific achievements themselves but about the culture that makes such achievements possible, a culture that thirsts for and respects knowledge and learning". It's true that the Arab World has enough dilemmas that could be seen as obstacles in the way of its reformation. However, if we have the will to make a change and bring back our glory, what we see now as obstacles can be brushed aside to make way for tomorrow’s leaders. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Richard rated it really liked it

Jim Al Khalili is a physicist whose family has deep roots in one of the culturally leading families of Iraq. His mother and first name are British and he was born and raised in Britain making him ideal to mediate between Islamic and European cultures in describing the wonders of this House. The founding of the "House of Wisdom" by Al Mamun in the 800s A.D. (C.E.) was necessitated by dream in which the instructions came right from Aristotle. However, Islamic culture did more than just conserve cl ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

May 08, 2016 Raven rated it really liked it

This book was excellent, beginning with the massive translation effort of known texts from Greek and Roman scientists into Arabic during the Abbāsid Caliphate and the subsequent pursuit of and development of chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics by Arabic-literate peoples (al-Khalili characterizes the science being done by its common language of communication, which at that time was Arabic rather than Latin or English -- the scientists he highlights were Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and This book was excellent, beginning with the massive translation effort of known texts from Greek and Roman scientists into Arabic during the Abbāsid Caliphate and the subsequent pursuit of and development of chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics by Arabic-literate peoples (al-Khalili characterizes the science being done by its common language of communication, which at that time was Arabic rather than Latin or English -- the scientists he highlights were Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and a few pagans, but they wrote in Arabic as their lingua, um, franca.) His discussion of the overlap between alchemy and chemistry as the science of chemistry developed was particularly worthwhile to me, as many people throw out actual science being done by scientists who also worked on alchemy that we now know to be flawed. I appreciated his setting the record straight on how many scientists known to the Western canon and Arabic-literate people alike held beliefs that we now know to be incorrect, but that this does not negate their contributions that we now know to be correct. It can be challenging to look at historical figures further back in the development of knowledge and see them with the understanding of their time, and not just with judgement far clearer in retrospect than it could possibly have been at the time.

It was also interesting to see the genesis of state-funded big science projects in the caliphate, verifying Ptolemy's astronomical observations and then extending the realm of the observed to perform new calculations. If you are a fan of librarians, you'll be cheering for the House of Wisdom, the Companions of the Verified Tables (nerdiest science posse name ever!), and the Arabic Egyptologist publishing hieroglyph-to-Arabic translation dictionaries in the ninth century. Kind of disturbing to think of all the scientific insight and knowledge that one misses by not speaking or reading the language of the discoverers; one can see why the translation phase of the texts of the time preceded the scientific and intellectual flowering. I'm grateful to all the Arabic texts that eventually got translated into English -- we have a lot of the Greek and Roman texts via this route, much like the medieval Irish monks -- but how much more might we know if we had done better and more thorough translation into English ourselves? Kinda also want to go find books on the history of Indian science and the history of Chinese science -- I know a lot of good work was done there too! The sections on the development of zero, decimals, and decimal fractions show some of this interaction of scholarship, both in the places where an idea was successfully communicated to other cultures and in the places where it had to be rediscovered in different places at different times, since it hadn't managed to make it out into the general global knowledge of scientists, insofar as such a thing existed (which was not very far). Clearly, we need a better babelfish. Also interesting on the multicultural science-doing front, al-Khalili draws some parallels between the decline of Arabic intellectual centers and governments which exiled or persecuted their Jewish residents, particularly in Andalusian Spain. But his final theory on what caused the decline of those Arabic-literate cultural centers, which I wish he'd given more than a few pages to, was neither the encroachment of religious conservativism, the sacking of Baghdad by the Mongols, nor European colonialism. Instead, he credits the lack of adoption of the printing press, due to the difficulty of setting correct grammatical Arabic in movable type. I would have really liked to hear more about that theory, but alas, the book is short. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2011 Richard Healy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Interesting so far.

I was one of those guilty of the simplistic reading of history that says Greek and Latin thought was absorbed into the Islamic Caliphate, translated, preserved and ultimately re-entered European thought kick-starting the enlightenment and the age of reason, without appreciating all the novel and new contributions that the arabic authors added to this pantheon of wisdom and learning.

Gradually in the last few years I've become increasingly aware of the arabic influence on, i ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2015 Abdullah Diab rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I have seen the documentary (Science and Islam - BBC) that Jim has done before, and I wanted to get a better grasp on my history, so I bought the book.

It's a very good book, with many references to many names, as an Arab I was taught many of those names, but like Jim says in the last chapter, we heard only of those names in history lessons, which really tended to be so boring back in my days, I assume they're more boring now. Only few science teachers ever mentioned these great names in their cl ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2011 Einschrein rated it it was amazing

I learned about evolution in high school biology class (no one thought to mention it before this time), and I certainly never learned about (Allah forbid) the Arabs/Muslims/Islam in history class. (And I went to New Trier!) I learned about the "Closing of the Western Mind" by reading Charles Freeman's book of the same name, the same man who writes about the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, antiquity, etc. (This book is well worth a read!) The closing of the western mind allowed the eastern mind to ope ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2015 Saba Aftab rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Just finished this book. And to write a review for it, I just checked other reviews so as to choose good words to describe this luminous work of Al-Khalili. But then closed the page for the reason that whatever mediocre words I'm going to choose, it will be with a sincere heart anyway. So back to the motto! It's a well written and insightful book. Although some of its parts, like where he goes into details about latitudes or mathematics, I didn't understand fully, because of an average person's ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2011 Johanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arab-middleeast, favorites

Jim Al-Khalili takes you on a journey to explore the golden age of Arabic science which occured during Europes' dark ages. It is commonly thought (and this is the view I had during history class in school) that the great scientists were the Greeks, and the Renessaince masters.

In 'Pathfinders' you learn about some of the greatest masters and polymaths of the Arab world at the time.. all intertwined with historical tellings of the khalifs, mongols and others. In reading 'Pathfinders' you will lear ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 05, 2020 Vidur Kapur rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: islamic-history, science, history

This book has the alternative title of The House of Wisdom, which is the same title of Jonathan Lyons' slightly earlier book on similar topics, and it is worth briefly comparing the two.

This book has a logical, chronological structure that the latter lacks, and is more focused on mathematics, science and astronomy: individuals such as Jabir ibn Hayyan, the father of chemistry, and al-Kashi, who first derived the cosine rule in trigonometry, are not mentioned in Lyons' work. Neither are al-Razi ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 15, 2014 Chris rated it did not like it

Shelves: fcpl-book-discussion

There are books that are badly written. There are books that are factually incorrect. There are books whose intellectual underpinnings are a mess. Then, there are books that are all of the above. The House of Wisdom is supposed to show how the Arabic world saved all the ancient knowledge of the world, expanded upon it, and reintroduced it into the west when the time was right. Instead, House of Wisdom is a poorly written and horribly argued car crash pushed in the reader's face with a maximum of There are books that are badly written. There are books that are factually incorrect. There are books whose intellectual underpinnings are a mess. Then, there are books that are all of the above. The House of Wisdom is supposed to show how the Arabic world saved all the ancient knowledge of the world, expanded upon it, and reintroduced it into the west when the time was right. Instead, House of Wisdom is a poorly written and horribly argued car crash pushed in the reader's face with a maximum of yelling and hand waving. Jim Al-Kahalili is an Iraqi born British theoretical nuclear physicist who decided to write a history book after consulting in some vague manner on a similar television program. I don't think many historians I know would attempt theoretical nuclear physics, and it would have been nice for Al-Kahalili to show the same restraint.

It's actually hard to address what is wrong, because nearly everything is. Al-Kahalili jumps all over the place in this work, and feels it necessary to constantly include long tangents about his personal life, his views of the current situation in Iraq and the Iraq war, and his axe to grind with the Western world, Saddam Hussein, Iran, and just about everyone else who has been at all involved in the large swath of land this book covers in the past 50 years. None of these things are at all relevant to the topic of this work. Al-Kahalili also has an axe to grind with the entire West for every incorrect assumption or error in understanding the Arab world as a place of scientific knowledge, dating back to the middle ages. I'd agree, that the West hasn't always given the Arab world its due. However, it seems before starting that he's decided to fault the West at every turn and present the medieval Arabic world as some paradise of scientific discovery and inter-religious tolerance, while glossing over any inconvenient fact that might go against this.

He spends the bulk of the early half of this work framing his arguments without actually making them (with frequent interruptions for the above rants and tangents). He examines misconceptions, relates legends and disproved accounts at length, and generally bores the reader into a stupor before he even attempts to make his argument. Then, he makes his point in such a convoluted way I'd sometimes read it three or four times, then move on without understanding what he was really trying to say.

Halfway through, he makes an abrupt change, and starts lobbing names and facts at the reader, so the page becomes a wash of proper nouns, and one ends up trying to keep various men straight with no context as to who they actually were.

Often when he reaches an identifiable point, he turns around and defeats his own excuses and explanations. In one case, after a long and elaborate set-up arguing one particular scientist (Jabir) is a Great Figure Worthy of Respect, he then notes that 1. his theories are horribly off base, but we should respect him for simply having theories 2. most works ascribed to him are likely not actually his, and scholars are generally confused because most writings ascribed to him contradict each other and 3. a large portion of his work is actually mystical and should just be excused because he did real science too.

He also faults the West for anything and everything, logic be damned. For example, he complains that only select (read: relevant!) works by certain scholars were carried to Europe, translated, and distributed during the middle ages and that this meant medieval scholars thought certain Arabic scholars were 'only' mathematicians, or chemists, or doctors, rather than all of the above without appreciating the amount of work and luck involved in bringing any work from the Arab world and translating it before sending it throughout Europe. In another case, he faults the West for not having translated a certain work, then turns around and explains that the two portions were only discovered a decade or two ago, separated in two middle eastern libraries.

Finally, there are factual inaccuracies and intellectual inconsistencies throughout. They're minor, certainly, but they add up quickly, and you have to wonder why so many are present. If a date reads 15XX, whatever the final two digits are, it takes place in the 16th century. So, don't refer to it as the 17th century because it bolsters your argument. If you refuse to call Arabic texts by their European names simply because you rail on that it is incorrect, why call European works by later Arabic titles? Items like this litter the work. Small quibbles, perhaps, but to me indicative of intellectual laziness (or perhaps dishonesty) and a lack of editing and fact checking.

Jim Al-Kahalili has problems writing history, so in the end, his history is a angry rant about his childhood experiences, and the grand conspiracy by the West to crush his favorite scientists. It is a shame, because there is a great story to be told about this material, just not the way it is done here. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2019 Nuruddin Azri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science

Without any sugar-coating, I can only say that I really enjoy reading this book other than few previous books that I have ever read on the same topic due to the fairness and compendiousness of this writing.

I know Jim al-Khalili from a good and engaging BBC documentary entitled Science and Islam where Dr. Afifi al-Akiti (the first Oxford graduate from Malaysia) is the specialist researcher for the three hour documentary.

Jim al-Khalili started his writing cautiously with his depthness and broadnes Without any sugar-coating, I can only say that I really enjoy reading this book other than few previous books that I have ever read on the same topic due to the fairness and compendiousness of this writing.

I know Jim al-Khalili from a good and engaging BBC documentary entitled Science and Islam where Dr. Afifi al-Akiti (the first Oxford graduate from Malaysia) is the specialist researcher for the three hour documentary.

Jim al-Khalili started his writing cautiously with his depthness and broadness of knowledge on Islam, Science, manuscripts and great scholars either from East or from West. Those who have ever watched the documentary will notice that Jim is quite familiar with the Islamic manuscripts (as he can read it fluently), he travels all around the world and does a deep research on this topic.

Without downgrading the contribution of any scholars either from the Islamic World or the Western World, Jim highlights the most important scholar in each field of science in every field like Hunayn Ibn Ishaq and his son, Ishaq ibn Hunayn on translation movement, Abu Bakr al-Razi, Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Nafis and William Harvey on medicine, Euclid on geometry, Jabir ibn Hayyan on chemistry, al-Farghani (the one who built the Nilometer just hundred meters away from my alma mater - Kasr al-Ainy), Ibn al-Shatir, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Ptolemy and Copernicus on astronomy, al-Kindi on philosophy, Ibn al-Haytham on physics, al-Khwarizmi on algebra and mathematics (I really like how Jim explains and giving example on this) and so on without forget to mention how polymath they are.

Then, Jim moves on to diagnose the cause of decline and renaissance of Islamic Science. Jim didn't see that the only factor that cause the decline is the Mongol's attack on Baghdad neither the falsely claim from some people that al-Ghazali's Tahāfut al-Falāsifah cause the death of the philosophy and science in Islam and neither due to the Western colonialism, but Jim sees that one of the factor is how late the Islamic World receive the printing press (17th century) considering that the first English translation of 11th and 12th century Arabic work is done in England in 14th century.

Jim did produce a great work. Despite Jim didn't use a lot of primary source in his bibliography, yet his methodology of research is still solid, detail and grounded when the readers themselves read the texts and trace back the references that he used (which are still from the authoritative one like Ibn Nadim, Ibn Khaldun, Arnold Toynbee, George Sarton, Albert Hourani, David Lindberg, Dimitri Gutas, Fuat Sezgin, George Saliba, SH Nasr, Osman Bakar and Peter Adamson).

I would suggest for those who want to begin with this topic to start with simpler book like Howard Turner's Science in Medieval Islam and Ehsan Masood's Islam and Science to get a brief overview before starting with Jim al-Khalili's Pathfinders (or its other name, The House of Wisdom). Then readers can continue with more specific book like Peter Pormann's Medieval Islamic Medicine, Dimitri Gutas' Greek Thought, Arabic Culture and George Makdisi's Rise of Colleges. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2011 Kent rated it it was ok

Shelves: history-world, science

Al-Khalili goes to great lengths in The House of Wisdom to document and celebrate every historical Arabic, Persian, or more generally, any Islamic effort to sustain, promote and advance scientific, mathematical, or astronomical discovery. While reading this book, it came across to me that his main objective was to prove that the Arab world had something to offer in these fields of study, too.

I would have liked to have read more detail about the individual lives of the many Arabs and Persians (an ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2012 Vuk Trifkovic rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Very poor. Perhaps I expected something incisive and insightful, but it's a typically confused "sci pop" or rather "history of ideas light" book. In fact, I think it might have been an offshoot of a TV series.

So, it's not like the author is not an expert. It's just that he does not know what is he writing and for whom. The history bit is way too light, the history of ideas bit slides into taxonomy too quickly ("and this is what they did in chemistry, and this is what they did in algebra") and th ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2011 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Enjoyable read, very informative and a subject that I now realise I knew very little about. Enjoyed the quotes from medieval scientists extolling the benefits of scientific analysis over blind faith - 1000 years later and this argument needs brought to the fore again sadly, in all parts of the world. Also fascinated to discover the derivation of many scientific and mathematical words is so obviously Arabic once someone points it out (algorithm, algebra, alkali, etc).

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 09, 2011 David rated it it was amazing

Really interesting book on the contributions made by Arabic scientists, many of which are either unknown or under appreciated in the west. From the invention of algebra (an Arabic word al-jebr); advances in medicine, astronomy, engineering, economics. It really makes the point that Arabic scientists made important and revolutionary contributions to science as well as providing links between the Ancient Greek world and the Renaissance in Europe.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2020 Islomjon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020

Jim al-Khalili in his "The House of Wisdom" often notes that in the Dark Ages, Islamic Empire was in its Golden Age.

About advancements of Arabic Science I had known when I was already young boy studying algebra and realizing that Al-Khwarizmi was its founder. I tried to ignore this fact assuming textbook overestimated Al-Khwarizmi's influence due to, in fact, he was my ancestor. During school time, I also heard about scientists such as Al-Biruni, Avicenna and Ulugh Beg more than any other Ancien Jim al-Khalili in his "The House of Wisdom" often notes that in the Dark Ages, Islamic Empire was in its Golden Age.

About advancements of Arabic Science I had known when I was already young boy studying algebra and realizing that Al-Khwarizmi was its founder. I tried to ignore this fact assuming textbook overestimated Al-Khwarizmi's influence due to, in fact, he was my ancestor. During school time, I also heard about scientists such as Al-Biruni, Avicenna and Ulugh Beg more than any other Ancient Greek and Western scientists. In that time, it created a lot of disbelieves in their contribution. However, several years later I came across books that are written by Western people like Ian Stewart, Peter Frankopan, Steven Weinberg, Karen Armstrong, etc. who claimed that those scientists were real torch holders of science, while Europe was radically waned in its cruel wars against enlightenment.

I think that "The House of Wisdom" is a perfect work to study Arabic science from its first centuries. Traversing its timeline and their masterful achievements in various fields, book spans from Ancient to modern times. Jim al-Khalili lists prominent philosophers and polymaths, their brief biography and major works. He examines some of their experiments and facts to assume about particular scientist is a father of some discipline.

Indeed, critical analysis, wide coverage of historical and geographical facts as well as own assumptions, Jim al-Khalili riches his book with interesting content. However, he missed one fact throughout the book, of course, it is my own view considering my own analysis by reading few historic literature. In first chapters, al-Khalili gives some examples why science started to develop in Arabic countries; furthermore, among other reasons, he states that was owing to the large translation movement (by translating Greek works to Arabic) and Islamic doctrine to suggest to pursue enlightenment. In contrast, al-Khalili does not mention the influence of The Great Silk Road which united East and West. Of course Indian, Chinese and Ancient Greek works would be transferring to sold to Arabs. By this, I mean economically by trading also had effect in acquiring vast quantity of works to study.

Throughout the reading, I felt an emotional mutuality to the book by exploring lush heritage of Arabic science. As my enthusiasm on science does not feel any bias towards particular nationalities who made or make sciences, I definitely feel proud of these scientists. Nevertheless, all this glory was destructed while reading quite pessimistic last two chapters about current scientific condition in Islamic countries.

As a conclusion I want to say that for me it would be idyllic to see how scientists from different corners around the world (would it be Peru, or Kenya, or France) argue and defend scientific theories. Ultimately, that would be pragmatic to reach the highest prosperity. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2019 Gavin rated it it was ok

Surprisingly dull and unanalytical. al-Khalili is good-natured and knowledgeable, but he puts in too many people, too many dates, and too little science. He tries to cover seven hundred years and multiple kingdoms, and the theological and military context, and ends up shallowly mentioning these things and little more. It would have been better to focus on the greats - Khwarizmi, Kindi, Haytham, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd - and explain their actual achievements, then note that work of this calibre was d Surprisingly dull and unanalytical. al-Khalili is good-natured and knowledgeable, but he puts in too many people, too many dates, and too little science. He tries to cover seven hundred years and multiple kingdoms, and the theological and military context, and ends up shallowly mentioning these things and little more. It would have been better to focus on the greats - Khwarizmi, Kindi, Haytham, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd - and explain their actual achievements, then note that work of this calibre was done by others over centuries too.

Cool questions al-Khalili barely touches:

* The Byzantines ruled Greece. How did they lose Greek thought, while the caliphate found it?
* What did we know before the Golden Age? What did we gain from it?

"Greatest" - 'greatest Muslim physicist', 'greatest Indian mathematician', 'greatest clinician ever' - appears 90 times in 250 pages. We are never told what specific achievements earn them the superlative.

al-Kindi:

"We ought not to be embarrassed of appreciating the truth and of obtaining it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. Nothing should be dearer to the seeker of truth than the truth itself, and there is no deterioration of the truth, nor belittling either of one who speaks it or conveys it."

It was nice to learn a word for this awesome form of Islam, the Mu'talizi. (I could have guessed from the kind of person who uses their name as an insult: "In contemporary Salafi jihadism, the epithet or supposed allegations of being a Muʿtazilite have been used between rival groups as a means of denouncing their credibility."

The caliphate was a remarkably open society, for its time. This is only confusing because our received images come from the past few centuries of fundamentalism. Sad:

The Iranian philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush, who is one of the most influential intellectuals in the Muslim world today, has stressed that censorship in today's Muslim world is stronger than at any other time in history.

...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 19, 2018 Indy Sahota rated it really liked it

The House of Wisdom, from the Arabic translation of the great library and research institute of Baghdad, is a nice account on the way Arab and Persian scholars in the so-called Dark Ages (it really wasn't that dark outside of Europe to be honest) contributed to science for almost 700 years between the Greeks and the Renaissance. Without the initial translation of Greek texts into Arabic and then the building on those theories by Arab and Persian scholars, most of Greek thought that we know today ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2019 Luis rated it it was amazing

Absolutely amazing! Illuminating. The grand and not well-known history of science in the middle east, and a very inspiring point of view regarding development, scientific achievement, and the very history of humankind learning and discovering our place in the cosmos. I recommend it wholeheartedly, I´m an art historian specialized in Islamic Art, and this book came as a surprise o, it's something that was necessary to clarify and fill the vacuum of the Islamic golden age. It's really amazing to s ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2017 Andy Vale rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Very readable overview of a topic that is woefully underappreciated by a lot of people. A frustrating theme runs through it whereby great work was put in jeopardy by combative rulers or religious pressures and their egos (both from within and outside Islamic culture). A trait that's far too common throughout history, makes you wonder what we could achieve if we stopped letting power corrupt so much.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 18, 2018 Zainab Marzah added it · review of another edition

Generally the book was more like history class than an interesting journey to the golden age of Arabic science. I looked up online the names of scientists brought up in the book and I literately found the information displayed on Wikipedia more interesting and informative.
if you care to view the complete review here's the link : https://bit.ly/2K7GlNX ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2019 Ivor Armistead rated it liked it

I had hoped for more.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 23, 2020 Faayza rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A well researched and laid out book but sometimes bogged down with too many numbers and figured and math formulas which, I skimmed. But the history side of things was absolutely fascinating

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2020 Amari rated it really liked it

Shelves: general-non-fiction

Impressions after reading introductory material and Chapter 1: I am filled with respect for the author and am making a great effort to retain the information that is so caringly, convincingly, and accessibly presented by him. This is non-fiction prose at its best.

After completing the book: Although I suspect that some of the later chapters were more hurriedly written or less carefully edited (there is a typo in the book's penultimate sentence), each one contained vast amounts of well-presented i ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Science and Inquiry: October 2017 - House of Wisdom	12	109	Oct 28, 2017 09:03AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

History

164 users

Science

116 users

Nonfiction

74 users

Science > History Of Science

15 users

Religion > Islam

13 users

Religion

10 users

Historical > Medieval

9 users

Philosophy

6 users

Science > Physics

5 users

Science > Mathematics

4 users

See top shelves…

About Jim Al-Khalili

Jim Al-Khalili

429 followers

Jim Al-Khalili(born Jameel Sadik Al-Khalili) is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey. He has hosted several BBC productions about science and is a frequent commentator about science in other British media venues.

(taken and modified from Wikipedia ...more

Books by Jim Al-Khalili

Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics

Aliens: The World's Leading Scientists on the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines

More…

News & Interviews

Ashley Poston on Writing a Different Kind of Fairy Tale Retelling

Ashley Poston made her name with Once Upon a Con, a contemporary series set in the world of fandom, and her two-part space opera, Heart of...

Trivia About The House of Wisd...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The House of Wisd...

“It is a fact of life that oversimplified accounts of the development of science are often necessary in its teaching. Most scientific progress is a messy, complex and slow process; only with the hindsight of an overall understanding of a phenomenon can a story be told pedagogically rather than chronologically. This necessitates the distilling of certain events and personalities from the melee: those who are deemed to have made the most important contributions. It is inevitable therefore that the many smaller or less important advances scattered randomly across hundreds of years of scientific history tend to be swept up like autumn leaves into neat piles, on top of which sit larger-than-life personalities credited with taking a discipline forward in a single jump. Sometimes this is perfectly valid, and one cannot deny the genius of an Aristotle, a Newton, a Darwin or an Einstein. But it often leaves behind forgotten geniuses and unsung heroes.” — 4 likes

“for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool of him and mock him.” — 0 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The House of Wisdom by Jim Al-Khalili

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

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Jim Al-Khalili

Books by Jim Al-Khalili

News & Interviews

Trivia About The House of Wisd...

Quotes from The House of Wisd...

See a Problem?

Preview — The House of Wisdom by Jim Al-Khalili

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

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Jim Al-Khalili

Books by Jim Al-Khalili

News & Interviews

Trivia About The House of Wisd...

Quotes from The House of Wisd...

new topic
Discuss This Book