Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science

by Jim Al-Khalili

In Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science, Jim al-Khalili celebrates the forgotten pioneers who helped shape our understanding of the world. For over 700 years the international language of science was Arabic. Surveying the golden age of Arabic science, Jim Al-Khalili reintroduces such figures as the Iraqi physicist Ibn al-Haytham, who practised the modern scientific method over half a century before Bacon; al-Khwarizmi, the greatest mathematician of the medieval world; and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, a Persian polymath to rival Leonardo da Vinci.

'Jim Al-Khalili has a passion for bringing to a wider audience not just the facts of science but its history ... Just as the legacy of Copernicus and Darwin belongs to all of us, so does that of Ibn Sina and Ibn al-Haytham' Independent

'He has brought a great story out of the shadows' Literary Review

'His command of Arabic and mathematical physics invests his story with sympathy as well as authority' Guardian

'A fascinating and user-friendly guide' Sunday Telegraph

'This captivating book is a timely reminder of the debt owed by the West to the intellectual achievements of Arab, Persian and Muslim scholars' The Times

Jim Al-Khalili OBE is Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey, where he also holds the first Surrey chair in the public engagement in science. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for science communication in 2007, elected Honorary Fellow of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and has also received the Institute of Physic's Public Awareness of Physics Award. Born in Baghdad, Jim was educated in Iraq until the age of 16 and it was there, being taught by Arabic teachers in Arabic that he first heard and learnt about the great Arab scientists and philosophers.

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction, Islam, Middle East, History Of Science, Religion

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2010

About the author

Dr. Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a regular broadcaster and presenter of science programmes on BBC radio and television, and a frequent commentator about science in other British media.

In 2014, Al-Khalili was named as a RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) leader by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). He was President of Humanists UK between January 2013 and January 2016.

Reviews

[David Rubenstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 drowning in all the detail.

I have always been fascinated by the story of tolerance, scholarship, mathematics and science in the Arab world during the Middle Ages. Not just Moslems, but Christians and Jews played a part in the story. The sciences flourished throughout much of the Arab world while Europe was in its Dark Ages. I really hope that some author could tell this subject as a story. A good story-teller could meld the vast tapestry of this subject into an intriguing whole.

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 regarded as threat from some circles, even within its own culture, is worth being elaborated in an book on itself.

I can highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to open his horizon a bit, in regard of where our cultural background was forged and how humanity evolved: By sharing its science and exchanging thoughts. Arabic was then what Latin became later to the literate elite. Scientists were Christians, Jews and Persians.

And as John Noble Wilford said in his (as usual) brilliant review "The Muslim Art of Science" in the NYT: Jim Al-Khalili also reminds readers that in early Islam there was no bitter conflict between religion and science and that the Koran encouraged the close study of all God’s works.

John Noble Wilford's (much better than mine) review can be followed here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/boo...

[Wendelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pursuit of rational enquiry is a universal human search, an unquenchable quest and the torch of science has been passed through the global community of humans. Starting with a description of the enchanting courtyards and palaces, streets and cities of Baghdad and the wider Abbasid Empire, through the legendary 'House of Wisdom' and the lofty scientists, thinkers and mathematicians that graced its impressive library, Prof. Jim Al-Khalili is always spellbinding and doggedly faithful to accuracy and truth, in weaving a detail-filled, masterful narrative of the history of science in the hands of the medieval Arabic world. Included in this book are profiles of titanic polymaths such as ibn Sina, al-Biruni, ibn al-Haytham, ibn Rushd, al-Kindi, al-Razi, and al-Farabi, with versatile discoveries and accomplishments in math, astronomy, chemistry, and medicine, and in telling their lives and achievements a tapestry of that flourishing age is woven for us.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

'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.

[Jenny Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 that they were unreadable unless you enjoy reading math textbooks.

The flaw here is that the author is not a very good writer. He lacks the ability to draw the reader in and flesh out his descriptions, and his introjection of himself and his personal history did not help. I also found his dismissal of Arabic contributions to astrology (and of the topic of astrology as a whole) patronizing and ignorant. Astrology did play a huge role in the development of science and it's worth considering that the brilliant people who used it like Kepler, Brahe etc, did so because they found it a useful tool, not because they were credulous fools.

There's another similar book out--with the almost identical topic, which I may have to read because I would like to know more about the role of early scientists in the Islamic world. But this is not a book I would recommend as it is fairly heavy going and the space taken up by the author's continual assertions of how important his subjects were would have been better used telling us more about those proto-scientists.

[Mary Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 drink'."

I read this book as part of an excellent program at our local Indian Valley Public Library called Muslim Journeys. Thank you Deb!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 classical Greek learning. The House of Wisdom was a scientific and scholarly research community that drew upon learning from the Egyptians, classical Greece, India and even some linkage to China to enlarge mankind's knowledge base. To be "learned" in Europe during Medieval times meant to know not only Latin, but Arabic. This center of learning attracted polymaths from diverse countries, cultural and religious backgrounds. There are some many nuggets to be found here. The studies in medicine were of the most practical importance during this period. A thousand years ago the scientists there not only reproduced and improved an accurate measurement of the earth's diameter following the method of Pythagoras, but developed another novel approach measuring the angle from a mountain overlook to the horizon. Recognizing that dusk must be related to the reflection of light off of ice in the upper atmosphere, they accurately measured the atmosphere to be over 50 miles deep. Al-Tusi appears to have been ahead of Copernicus in recognizing that the earth orbits the sun. Our numeral system based on Indian math and the pioneering of decimal notation comes the House of Wisdom. An excellent read.

[Sarah Dorra · Rating 4 out of 5]

(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.

[Alexandru · Rating 5 out of 5]

House of Wisdon is an excellent book that traces the origins of Arabic science from its beginning all the way to its golden years during the Ummayads, to its decline and the great influence it had on the Western world.

The Arabs translated the science of the Greeks, combined it with Persian and Indian science, developed their own and then finally passed to the West mainly through the Islamic states in Spain.

Jim Al-Khalili goes through an impressive amount of Arab or Persian scientists and thinkers such as al-Kindi, Geber, al-Khwarizmi, al-Biruni, Avicenna, Averoes and many many more. So many areas of knowledge from philosophy, physics, chemistry, psychology to medicine and so on were influenced by these brilliant minds. Words like algorithm, algebra, alcohol, alkaline etc are reminders of Arabic influence on modern science.

This is one of the best non-fiction books I've read this year, very interesting and covers a sometimes forgotten history.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Richard Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

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, in particular, number theory and engineering, and basic scientific development. And so this book has arrived at a perfect time for as it coincides with my own developing intellectual progress. What I am encountering so far is that obviously the story is more complex, more elaborate than I'd previously appreciated.

The author writes with a uniquely personal voice, drawing in anecdotes from his youth and family along with his own reflections of investigating the material he's researched and presenting it in an an earnest sense of wanting to convince the reader of what they may not formally have fully appreciated.

If you enjoy have your preconceptions shaken and learning something about history not frequently taught out of the microscopic focus on European development, then this important chronicle of what is often omitted or forgotten, then I recommend it.

I should throw in a note of caution, that despite the best attempts of the author to clearly define all the participants, I did get a bit lost remembering who-was-who with all the arabic names, so some concentration is required.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Abdullah Diab · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 classes.

I believe that looking back at our history of great scientists should encourage us to create a better future.

The book was sometimes very brief on the achievements of the scientists, and sometimes the context of which Jim tries to create to talk about the era of that scientist can be a bit distracting, but in general I really liked reading this book.

Jim's way of approaching some sensitive parts of the Arabic/Muslim history is very nice, it's the scientific way, and he makes sure that he does not get affected by his personal opinion. Some parts of his story are sad, I think everyone is sad about Iraq and Baghdad :(

The Arab world needs a full reform, unfortunately the last five years proved it need much much more reform than we though it would. I hope that one day we will be back on the map as leaders of the free mind and of science.

[Einschrein · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 open, or at least given the opportunity to translate all the wonderful Greek texts into Arabic. The western scientific revolution owes quite a bit to these "Arab" scholars: while the west was mired in the Dark Ages, they were enjoying their "Golden Age." A wonderful and interesting read in a very accessible text.

[alanood · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a child, I had a set of books about Arab scientists that I would read and reread almost every day. I chose Pathfinders because it reminded me of that time, and I thought it was very important that I broaden my knowledge on this topic. This book the perfect mix of science and history. The author, Jim Al-Khalili, is a physicist and science communicator, and he does a great job at handling scientific concepts in a comprehensible way.

In this book, the author talks about a wide range of topics, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, medicine, geography, and philosophy. Despite the countless subjects that were mentioned, and the multitude of scientists whose stories were told, the book is very well organized. Each chapter starts with a quote relevant to its context, and every topic is given its justice where none are implied to be more important than the other. In addition, the notes, diagrams, and images— or “plates” as they are called in the book, provided help the reader visualize and truly understand the history and context behind the text. Every bit of information is supported by strong evidence, and the author makes sure to specify where any fact is only alleged. This reflects his great deal of research which is also portrayed by his list of credible sources. I often found myself adding his references to my reading list. I also found it hard to abstain myself from telling everyone I see about the facts I learned from this book, and still have many webpage tabs open for further research on topics that were mentioned in it.

What I found most distinguishable about this book is how the writer was able to show pride in his own culture while still give credit to others where it is due. For example, he talks about the controversy behind referring to al-Khwarizmi as the “Father of Algebra”, and proposes a meeting in the middle: “One can categorize algebra broadly into three types. First, there is what is known as rhetorical algebra… This is the tradition that al-Khwarizmi inherited and systemized. Next, there is syncopated algebra… This is the form of algebra used by Diophantus… Finally, we have symbolic algebra, which was first developed in a crude form by the Hindus” (pp. 120-121).

Many times Arabs and Muslims make the mistake of praising our achievements and historical significance by degrading the accomplishments of the rest of the world. This is counterproductive as it makes us appear elitist and contemptuous, and instead of raising awareness on our historical influence, it gives more reason for Islamophobes to dismiss it. Jim Al-Khalili commented in an interview, “In a sense, [there's an element of racism to the suppression of Arabic science]. It's tied in with modern-day Islamophobia and the idea that all Muslims have backward attitudes to life, from women to politics; and there's the additional tension because of fundamentalism and terrorism. So there is a natural tendency to think that surely these people couldn't really have been far more civilized and advanced than us”.

At some points in the book, there were just too many names, one after the other, to follow up with. This book would be the most enjoyed by anyone who already has an extensive background in science history in the Arab world, but alas, I am not that person. In order to retain all the information I read in Pathfinders, I would have to read it a second time, which I do not mind doing at all. I am also looking forward to reading more of Jim Al-Khalili’s work.

[Saba Aftab · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 science knowledge. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it immensely as it tells the history and great personalities and their achievements at length and also rather the obscure history of different disciplines of sciences. So, before as having known the beautiful personalities of the glorified past of the Islamic / Arab world (and even ancient knowledge of Egyptians, Babylonians, or Greeks) and their works as tidbits, now after reading it, one comes to know how insightful and farsightedness their work has produced for all the nations to come that one cannot simply help feeling amused, mystified and accomplished at the same time. I would like to recommend it to anyone interested in ancient and Medieval knowledge. Another indispensable book on my shelf!

[Vuk Trifkovic · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 there is also a very grating 'personal angle' to all this. Which would be interesting, but it just flits in and out of focus.

Anyway, I want to know more about the topic, but this one is not the book to do it. Which is a shame, because the author can write and he clearly knows his stuff. Maybe his next book will be less influenced by the publishing house and he can just get on with his job.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 learn about the "Father of algebra" Al-Khwarizmi, the great physisit Ya'qub ibn Ishaq and several other polymaths within everything from math to astronomy to human philosophy.

[Vidur Kapur · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 and al-Zahrawi, the greatest mediaeval physician and surgeon, respectively. Unsurprisingly, then, al-Khalili tells the story of the Islamic Golden Age more from the perspective of the Muslim scholars themselves, than from the viewpoint of the European translators who sought out Arabic texts in mediaeval Spain, Italy, Sicily and Syria.

Overall, an entertaining book filled with interesting facts and anecdotes, as well as memorable characters, from the brash but brilliant Avicenna to the reserved al-Biruni. And some mathematics, for those inclined.

[Nuruddin Azri · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 (and other peoples) that were presented, and learned just what they did in their lives that made them unique as philosophers, scholars, mathematicians or scientists. Having recently finished reading about the likes of Galileo, -- which informed me in new ways about some great minds -- I was disappointed in Al-Khalili's focus on quantity rather than quality. A massive number of names, dates and places revealed very little to me about their singular accomplishments. I am newly informed of their history and the expansive nature of their influence, but I am left unconvinced of (what I suspect is) their wished for "peer-equivalent" greatness, which Al-Khalili (again, as I suspect) so desperately wanted to reveal.

The writing is inferior and at times gets so bogged down in algebraic formulas and the like, that only a reader/lover of math text books could enjoy parts of it!

All in all, I appreciate Al-Khalili's premise and recognize the difficulty in bringing it convincingly to light in a Western, European-centric or English language focused world. No doubt, there were and are philosophers of major prowess in other parts of the world before, during and after the Renaissance. Too bad, for me at least, Al-Khalili's telling of their stories wasn't more compelling.

[Amari · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 information shared in a conversationally erudite way. I appreciated the author's occasional mentions of his own personal history and his gently dogged adherence to his thesis.

I sense that a gaping hole in my education has been partially filled and that I now have the information and direction to further correct the lack.

[Andy Bock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not understand what was "Golden" about the "Golden Age". What I learned is that there were some clever people who documented existing knowledge and then thought about it, providing some advancement in some fields. That is something which has happened throughout history is is in itself hardly remarkable.
What I missed is a clear indication what the knowledge was before the "Golden Age" and what the level was after the "Golden Age" and then describing the delta and attributing it to a discovery or invention made by a particular person and describing the process. This was not even hinted at.
I liked the personal touch, showing that behind every brilliant mind there is also a human being, with their quirks and rough edges.

[Sean-Paul Kosina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction on the history of the great philosophers, theologians, mathematicians, scientists, astronomers, doctors, and alchemists during the Golden Age of Islam, specifically during the period of the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 A.D.). Including other details on the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, and a good overview on the great libraries of Nineveh (Assyrian), Baytul Hikma (Baghdad, Abbasid), and much more!

I learned a great deal from this fantastic book. Now I only wish to learn more and find any book covering the various students of knowledge that this book introduced.

[William Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-researched dive into key Arabian thinkers. Grounded in historical observation, Al-Khalili commences their exploration of Arabian's underappreciated contributions through the lens of single actors. From an appreciation to how Greek/Babylonian translation lead to an explosion of Arabic science and philosophy, the persistent theme of Pathfinders is one of comparative evaluation: how European idols depend upon, or repeated, scant or lost works of centuries before. Largely a good reference into a different perspective of science history.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

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).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Andy Vale · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.