Product Description

Early Muslim culture set the foundation for the Rennaissance of Europe and for nearly every aspect of the modern world. In this age of conflict, "Lost History" provides a vital look at the Muslim world and its deep connection to all cultures. Unlike many histories, which address the noted Arab Golden Age of Baghdad, Persia, and Muslim Spain from 632 to 1258 AD and the fall of Baghdad, "Lost History" reveals the many 'golden ages' of Muslim thought, from Shiite Iran to Mughal India, to the 18th century. Engaging chapters introduce a contemporary accountant, obstetrician, civil engineer, or astrophysicist, all whose work is linked to early Muslim advancements.Artful flashbacks render page-turning accounts of such luminaries as Al Ma'mun, who founded Baghdad's international House of Wisdom from which came foundations for modern math, astronomy, chemistry, medicine, and literature; Al Khwarizmi, often considered the Father of Algebra, whose invention of algorithms makes possible cell phones today; revered Arab philospher Al Kindi, who wrote, 'nothing should be dearer to the seeker of truth than the truth itself;' Astronomer Al Manon, for whom is named a crater of the moon; the exiled Emir Abdal Rahman, who brought to Cordoba, Spain, irrigation systems and unique architecture; and the Syrian-born Al Nafis, who revealed that the blood flows from the heart, through the lungs, to the body and back again. Finally, readers discover that Omar Khayyam, well-loved poet of the Rubaiyat, was a mathematical wizard who calculated the length of a year to be 365.242 days (later calculated by atomic clocks to within millionths of a second). Writes the author: 'By recovering lost history together, maybe we can really get at the issues of today that will never be solved by force. Because if there is no other lesson to be drawn from "Lost History", it is that force rarely ever positively resolves issues of the spirit and the soul - whether in individuals, or in civilizations.'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60134 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Superb balanced exposition of our shared history
As someone from the East who studied at an American liberal arts college, and quite rightly enthused with Western philosophy, science, and the development of rational thought, it has slowly dawned on me that the story is ever more complex.

Great thinkers from various cultures have enriched us - passing ideas and approaches to succeeding generations. Above all, great civilisations and thinkers have always been open to the ideas of others. The inquiring mind is driven by thirst, unconstrained by restrictive ideology that proclaims superiority of one culture over another. Ultimately there is no such lasting superiority - human beings are human beings, and no one has a claim to ascendancy. We ought to celebrate the insights and breakthroughs of all individuals no matter their background, culture and beliefs - though we often don't.

It may sound like yet another politically correct statement, but in truth that debate is sterile. What matters most to the inquiring mind is the truth - the concept of social acceptance or rejection, or of political correctness, is, and ought to be, an irrelevance. Morgan's book is not a statement about political correctness - it is a search for our history.

Studying mathematics and physics, especially its history, it slowly dawned on me that the simple story of Greek thought followed by Age of the Enlightenment in Europe is a truncated story. The truncations are in the middle - perhaps written out for biased reasons, perhaps just forgotten. There are now in fact telling clues that the Crusades played a large part in bringing the West in touch with rational thought - with science, discovery, and the spirit of inquiry.

It is sad when we cheat our children by telling them incomplete stories of human history and development. Our history is a collective history. For me the awareness that the typical Western philosophic education has chosen to eschew telling the tale of great thinkers from other cultures is a slight disappointment - given that I have always taken the Western method to be all about openness and inquiry. But then no one is perfect - be it individual or culture.

Morgan tells the story impartially and with no hint of bias. The theme is the same - that not knowing our rich history, even if belonging to the various Islamic eras in different regions in different centuries is ultimately everyone's loss. From Al Khwarizmi to Avicenna, to Caliph Rashid and his libraries in Baghdad, to the first man to develop a working parachute, Morgan tells the story of an Islamic culture embraced with a love of knowledge, spirit of inquiry and openness. It is easy to see the links to the flowering of Western thought - after the West came in touch with the East.

It is an enrichening read, all the more so because the author has no axe to grind, but to tell the actual history, and to share it with all. To both sides of the current carefully cultivated divide between East and West, this is simultaneously a delightful and sobering read. Closing one's mind to others serves no purpose. We lose our history and who we were, and where we are headed.

Tiresome minds, both from the East and the West, obsessed with proclaiming the superiority of their own cultures, will find this book an irritant. But those who are curious, and with a genuine thirst for understanding, will find this a refreshing and invaluable read. It will fill in the missing links in intellectual history that leave confusion, blindness and a sense of dissatisfaction in the inquiry mind. I would suggest a read.

Interesting read
I found this book by chance and wanted to give the writer a chance as well. It's a well written book with one major draw back, there is very little is the way of original sourcing. This was fustrating for me because I was interested in what the author had to say but at the same time a piece of work must show it sources. He flips the time line of the book from present day places to the past; It can be annoying. All in all, the book is worth reading and worth purchasing.

I would also like to leave you with the following quote from David King:

"Virtually all innovations in [astronomical] instrumentation in Europe up to ca. 1550 were either directly or indirectly Islamic in origin or had been conceived previously by some Muslim astronomer somewhere."

excellent book for a mulsims library
good for people who want to know or see a non-biased view about the achievements of the Islamic civilization and how they have helped the world of today from medicine to astronomy. every muslim should have it in his/hers home/pubic library to make one proud of your history and in the process elevating ones self-esteem as a muslim in these times of anti-islamic propoganda everywhere.