Science and Islam : A History,[A5] Paperback - 256 pages,
by Ehsan Masood.
Description :
The official tie-in to the BBC television series,
Science and Islam tells the story of one of history's most misunderstood yet rich and fertile periods in science: the extraordinary Islamic scientific revolution between 700 and 1400 CE. It charts a religious empire's scientific heyday, its decline, and the many debates that now surround it.
Between the 8th and 15th centuries, scholars and researchers working from Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan to Cordoba in Spain advanced our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and philosophy to new heights.
It was Musa al-Khwarizmi, for instance, who developed algebra in 9th-century Baghdad, drawing on work by mathematicians in India; there was also al-Jazari, a Turkish engineer of the 13th century whose achievements include the crank, the camshaft, and the reciprocating piston; and ibn-Sina, whose textbook Canon of Medicine was a standard work in Europe's universities until the 1600s. These scientists were part of a sophisticated culture and civilisation that was based on belief in God - a picture which helps to scotch the myth of the 'Dark Ages' and the idea that scientific progress falters because of religion.
‘This
is a delightful and approachable book, packed with surprises and treats
and offered by a writer whose passion for the subject does not daunt
his objectivity.’
Wharf
‘Refreshingly
different ….Masood’s [book] emphasis on context, combined with his easy
prose, measured self-confident tone, and an effort to inject compelling
human drama into the narrative, makes the present book – for the most
part – wonderfully captivating.’
Arif Babul, Observatory Magazine
- See more at: http://www.iconbooks.com/blog/title/science-and-islam/#sthash.8iotAqc9.dpuf
‘This is a delightful and approachable book, packed with surprises and treats and offered by a writer whose passion for the subject does not daunt his objectivity.’
---Wharf.
‘Refreshingly different ….Masood’s [book] emphasis on context, combined with his easy prose, measured self-confident tone, and an effort to inject compelling human drama into the narrative, makes the present book – for the most part – wonderfully captivating.’
---Arif Babul, Observatory Magazine.
Ehsan Masood is Acting Chief Commissioning Editor at Nature and teaches international science policy at Imperial College London. He also writes for Prospect and OpenDemocracy.net and is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's Home Planet.
