SOMERVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY ANNOUNCES NEW ‘MUSLIM JOURNEYS’ BOOK DISCUSSION SERIES
Discussion of “House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance” on May 30 to kick off year– long series at SPL
Public Library announces a new book discussion series entitled, "Muslim
Journeys," beginning on Thursday, May 30 at 6:30 p.m. with a discussion of Jim
al-Khalili's book, House of Wisdom: How
Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance. The
program is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American
Library Association, and aims to familiarize the American public with Islam and
the cultural heritage of Islamic civilizations around the world. The May 30
discussion will be led by Tufts University Professor Malik Mufti, a professor
of international relations and politics of the Middle East. The program is free and open to the public.
Partners include the Center for Arabic Culture and Tufts University.
"The Somerville Public Library brings
people together to learn about ideas, each other, and our greater humanity," said
Maria Carpenter, Director of the Somerville Public Library. "We think the
Muslim Journeys project is particularly important as it is intended to promote
tolerance and understanding and for community members to learn more about and
celebrate the many contributions of Muslim Americans."
House of Wisdom is one
of the titles from the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys Collection,
which the SPL recently acquired through a grant. Muslim Journeys is a
project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation
with the American Library Association. Major support for the Muslim
Journeys Bookshelf was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New
York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the
Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
About House of Wisdom:
With transporting detail,
Al-Khalili places the reader in the intellectual and cultural hothouses of the
Arab Enlightenment: the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, one of the world's greatest
academies, the holy city of Isfahan, the melting pots of Damascus and Cairo,
and the embattled Islamic outposts of Spain. - Penguin Press
Al-Khalili brings to life a
vibrant intellectual period of Islamic history when there was not only
tolerance for other religions and cultures but a synergy between science and
Islam. Anyone interested in the early history of science or the development of
the scientific method before Galileo will find this an engaging study. -Cynthia Knight, Library Journal review
For more information about the
event or the Muslim Journeys series, see http://www.somervillepubliclibrary.org/
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