January 2010

Reading
Research for The Mapmaker:

Chamberlain, M. (2002) Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus, 1190-1350 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) -- argues historians have long imposed European concepts on the study of Islamic medieval history,  and proposes the household, rather than the state agency or corporation, as the key locus of power.
 

Harvey, W. & Dawood, N. J. (2004) Arabian Nights: Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (London: Penguin) -- selection of tales told by Shahrazad over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahriyar.

Crossley-Holland, K. (1996) The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings (London: Penguin) -- The Scandinavian myths form a linked chain of stories, creating a mighty, fantastical world teeming with gods and goddesses, tricksters, smiths and magicians.

Hodgson, M. G. S. (1977) The Venture of Islam Volume 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods (Chicago: Chicago University Press) -- In the second of his three-volume magisterial work, Hodgson investigates the establishment of an Islamic civilization during the middle period. Includes a theoretical discussion of cultural patterning in the Islamic world and the Occident.