Light From the East: How the Science of Medieval Islam Helped to Shape the Western World
“John Freely’s Light from the East presents a thorough and wide-ranging account of pre-Islamic and Islamic science as well as of the considerable debt that Western scientific thinking owes to the Arabs.” -Robert Irwin, author ofThe Arabian Nights: A Companion"This book will excite and inspire the general reader who is looking for a comprehensive but readable history of Islamic science" -Suite101.com"Anyone who has read John Freely's work before will know how vast is his scholarship and how pleasant he is to read... Freely's great virtue is his fantastic ability to take the work of esoteric highly specialized books and synthesize those books by turning them into more legible prose the general reader can appreciate, and indeed enjoy. [Light from the East] is the type you would want to take on a trans-oceanic flight and through reading it enjoy the ever-colourful world Freely is capable of painting. He positions himself as a superb storyteller... Freely's talent is a talent every historian would envy." -George Saliba, Columbia University,Journal of Early Modern History16 (2012)