Review: "Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything" by Philip Ball

Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything by Philip Ball
University of Chicago Press, Paperback, 9780226211695, 465pp. Publication Date: September 17, 2014

Today, citizens of the industrialized world almost universally consider curiosity to be a praiseworthy trait, and we consider it to be a fundamental attribute of the Scientist, the Jedi of Science, through which our place in the universe can be understood and our welfare enhanced. But humanity did not always consider curiosity to be praiseworthy.

It is certainly not evolutionary advantageous. How many curious hominids had their genetic lines snuffed out by eating unknown plants or entering dark caves or traveling to the next valley?

Review: "This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World" by Jerry Brotton

This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World by Jerry Brotton

My review in today's @FT - Elizabethan England and the Islamic World https://t.co/yHO5LKjpQk via

— Joe Moshenska (@JoeMoshenska) March 19, 2016

I have not read the book.

Review: Being German, Becoming Muslim: Race, Religion, and Conversion in the New Europe by Esra Özyürek

Being German, Becoming Muslim: how German Muslims balance their country and their faith http://t.co/iQzX6fl0Eu

— LSE EUROPP blog (@LSEEuroppblog) September 11, 2015

Aysegul Kayaoglu reviewed Being German, Becoming Muslim: Race, Religion, and Conversion in the New Europe by Esra Özyürek. It was published in the London School of Economics Review of Books blog on June 5, 2015.

Panelists, including author Esra Özyürek, discussed the book on January 21, 2015.

Podcast 'Being German, Becoming Muslim:race, religion, & conversion in the New Europe' Esra Ozyurek @LSEEI #LSEOzyur… http://t.co/UChVI4vhTL

— LSE Events (@LSEpublicevents) July 20, 2015

Search for the book in a library near you using Worldcat.org.

I have not read the book.

Review: Islam in Liberalism by Joseph Massad

"ISLAM IN LIBERALISM is required reading for anyone invested in Muslim Studies." http://t.co/cqot7S2Wm2 pic.twitter.com/kvVHdBhJZX

— LA Review of Books (@LAReviewofBooks) September 12, 2015

Anna Provitola and Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins reviewed Joseph Massad's book Islam in Liberalism.

I have not read the book. There is more information at the publisher's site, and you can search for a copy at your local library on worldcat.org.

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story - Storified on Twitter

Börgen Episode 23 "The Right Shade of Brown" and the Issue of "Integration"

Adam Price surrounded by the cast of his political drama Borgen

I watch Börgen on Link TV. In season 3, the series's protagonist Birgitte Nyborg decides to leave her party, The Moderates, because it agreed to support a law which would allow the government to deport immigrants for minor offenses. In episode 23, "The Right Shade of Brown," the founders of her new party, The New Democrats, are discussing who should represent The New Democrats in a TV forum on immigration. They decide they want an actual immigrant to represent them. The first condition they place is that the immigrant must be a Muslim, not an Inuit from Greenland, since Muslims are the problem in immigration/integration. Then they decide it can't be an Indonesian or an Ugandan, because they don't look "Muslim."

Interview with Maud S. Mandel, author of "Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict"

Joseph Richard Preville conducted an interview with Professor Maud S Mandel on her book Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict, and it was published in IslamiCommentary.org on March 31, 2014. You can also listen to an interview from March 21, 2014 from a Memphis, Tennessee radio station. I have not read the book.

Review: "The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs" by Andrew Hussey

Princeton University Professor David Avrom Bell (Twitter) reviewed The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs by Andrew Hussey in The Guardian.

My take on Andrew Hussey's "The French Intifada" http://t.co/KKTGJYUGPM
— David A. Bell (@DavidAvromBell) March 1, 2014

I have not read the book.

Updated: Interview with the author published June 27, 2014.

Review: The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson

Trevor Aaronson's The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism gathers disparate news stories into one narrative: the frequency of "terrorism" convictions in the United States in the years following 2001 is neither a measure of the threat terrorism poses to public safety nor of the effectiveness of the federal government in protecting United States residents.

Interview with Mark Cohen, Contributor to A History of Jewish-Muslim Relations

Joseph Richard Preville conducted an interview with Professor Mark R. Cohen, and it was published in IslamiCommentary.org on January 28, 2014.

Jews and Muslims have been intertwined for fourteen centuries. Their long relationship is the subject of A History of Jewish-Muslim Relations: From the Origins to the Present Day (Princeton University Press, 2013). read more

Professor Cohen is one of the contributors to the book. I have not read the book.

Open Access Academic Books from University of California Press

h/t Mark Lynch, who retweeted

This is pretty great: UC Press makes 194 e-books from its history catalog (and 700+ books total) open access http://t.co/zzw4LYZisG
— Ian Mosby (@Ian_Mosby) December 30, 2013

Here are some books which may interest readers of this blog:

Production Stills from Unity Productions Foundation's Film on Noor Inayat Khan

Unity Productions Foundation (UPF) is close to completing a film on Noor Inayat Khan, a Muslim who spied for the British government during World War II. Here are some picture from the production. The website for the film is http://NoorKhanFilm.org, and it should be complete by mid-November 2013. UPF asked me not to share the stills I received, so I have taken them down and I apologize to you readers for the misdirection. But I was assured that some of the stills would be placed on the website soon. In the meantime, please support UPF financially to bring this and other projects to life.

Religious War is Not So Bad: Modern Defenses of the Crusades

I was flipping through the TV yesterday and hit upon EWTN ON LOCATION - RETHINKING HOLY WARS: THE CRUSADES AND CATHOLIC DEVOTION IN THE MIDDLE AGES. It featured a lecture by Dr. Thomas F. Madden, of Saint Louis University, on "Rethinking Holy War: The Crusades and Catholic Devotion in the Middle Ages" delivered at the Catholic Vision of History Conference at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. The full lecture is available in audio and visual format through iTunes University.

Review: Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq by Michael Scheuer

Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq by Michael Scheuer (Twitter)


As I was listening to this abridged book on CD, I pictured its author Michael Scheuer as a combination of Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now and Cersei in Game of Thrones. His commitment to no principle other than the cohesiveness of the United States and his view that ultra-violence is a necessary tool to preserve that cohesiveness made it difficult for me, a proponent of non-violence and globalism (his term is antinationalist), to keep an open mind to his ideas. Yet I'm glad I did persevere and finish the book, and there is some value in it.

BBC Radio: Hitler's Muslim Legions

BBC Radio's Hitler's Muslim Legions is an interesting introduction to the situation of Muslims and their neighbors in the Balkans during World War II. As in many BBC historical programs, I think it glosses over some of the faults of the British Empire, but this is the first program I'd heard about Muslims who trained in Nazi Germany's armed forces.

It's no longer available at the BBC web site, but you can use peer-to-peer technologies and download it using a BitTorrent client.

Interview with Nathan Lean, Author of Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims

Nathan Lean of Aslan Media has written The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims.



Read this interview in the Muscat Daily by Joseph Richard Preville. H/t CAIR.

The Islamophobia Industrymuscatdaily.com/Archive/Opinio… fb.me/1ofeXo3zw
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) November 24, 2012

I have not read the book.

Perceptions of Islam in the Christendoms by Nasir Khan

Perceptions of Islam in The Christendoms: A Historical Survey by Nasir Khan is available as a free download. The Mustaqim blog reviewed it. If you'd like a printed, bound volume, look for it in one of these libraries or buy it.

Review: The Invisible Arab: The Promise and Peril of the Arab Revolution

Marwan Bishara, a political analyst for Al-Jazeera satellite news network, wrote an Arab-nationalist perspective essay about the ongoing revolutions in North Africa and Southwest Asia.

Review: The Ornament of The World—How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture Of Tolerance In Medieval Spain

The Ornament of The World—How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture Of Tolerance In Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal. Little Brown; 2002.

Reviewed by Dr. Faroque Ahmad Khan in Vol 43, No 1 of the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

YaleNews | In memoriam: María Rosa Menocal - news.yale.edu/2012/10/15/mem… ow.ly/2sLKTx

— Ebadur Rahman (@i_baad) October 19, 2012

Review: We Are All Moors by Anouar Majid

We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades against Muslims and Other Minorities by Anouar Majid is a must-read for all immigrants and civil rights activists in Europe and North America.