Book Club: House of Wisdom – by Jim Al-Khalili

This month's Book Club meeting is going to be a hybrid event and you are welcome to come to the humanist center in person, or to Zoom in using the link below.

This month's selection is House of Wisdom - by Jim Al-Khalili

(356 pages/0 or 12+ hours on Audible)

from Amazon:

The Arabic legacy of science and philosophy has long been hidden from the West. British-Iraqi physicist Jim Al-Khalili unveils that legacy to fascinating effect by returning to its roots in the hubs of Arab innovation that would advance science and jump-start the European Renaissance.

Many of the innovations that we think of as hallmarks of Western science
were actually the result of Arab ingenuity: Astronomers laid the foundations for the heliocentric model of the solar system long before Copernicus; physicians accurately described blood circulation and the inner workings of the eye ages before Europeans solved those mysteries; physicists made discoveries that laid the foundation for Newton's theories of optics. But the most significant legacy of Middle Eastern science was its evidence-based approach - the lack of which kept Europeans in the dark throughout the Dark Ages.

With transporting detail, Al-Khalili places the listener in the intellectual and cultural hothouses of the Arab Enlightenment and tackles two tantalizing questions: Why did the Arab world enter its own Dark Age after such a dazzling enlightenment? And how much did Arabic learning contribute to making the Western world as we know it? Given his singular combination of expertise in both the Western and Middle Eastern scientific traditions, Al-Khalili is uniquely qualified to solve those riddles.
Rating on Amazon 3.9 stars

The Book Club meets on the 4th Saturday of every month.

Henry Geist and Vici Duarte are your hosts.

Zoom meeting ID: 914 535 5110
(Open your Zoom app and type this number in the box that comes up after you click on the 'Join' icon)