I wondered if this could be because they accepted having different beliefs and ideas. Overall I felt that I learned more from certain sections of this reading than I did from sections of the previous readings. Especially helpful was the outline Hodgson provided on the periods in Islamic civilization. This provided me with some background knowledge on Islamic civilization and how it pertained to certain ages. Although certain sections I found difficult to understand, I did feel that I gained more knowledge from these sections then the previously assigned Hodgson readings.
Scholary writing tends to be wordy and, therefore, confusing.
Hodgson writes what appear to be run-on sentences. I find this type of writing tedious and self-involving. You may not realize it, but scholars are no different than any other writers. They write to a certain audience. He is writing to an audience of scholars.