The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition: A Compendium of Knowledge from the Classical Islamic World

by Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri

Other authorsElias Muhanna (Editor)
Paperback, 2016

Status

Available

Call number

039.927

Collection

Publication

Penguin Classics (2016), 349 pages

Description

An astonishing record of the knowledge of a civilization, The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition catalogues everything known to exist from the perspective of a 14th-century Egyptian scholar and litterateur. More than 9,000 pages and 30 volumes--here abridged to one volume, and translated into English for the first time--it contains entries on everything from medieval moon-worshiping cults, sexual aphrodisiacs, and the substance of clouds, to how to get the smell of alcohol off one's breath, the deliciousness of cheese made from buffalo milk, and the nesting habits of flamingos. Similar works by Western authors, including Pliny's Natural History, have been available in English for centuries. This ground-breaking translation of a remarkable Arabic text--expertly abridged and annotated--offers a look at the world through the highly literary and impressively knowledgeable societies of the classical Islamic world. Meticulously arranged and delightfully eclectic, it is a compendium to be treasured--a true monument of erudition.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member le.vert.galant
This is the sort of book that gives a real insight to the Medieval mind. A cabinet of curiosities that illustrates the human penchant for creating certainty out of ignorance. One either loves this type of compendium or finds it tedious. I am firmly in the former camp.
LibraryThing member stillatim
First, thanks to Elias Muhanna for convincing a trade press to publish this. It's great fun: selections from a fourteenth century Egyptian 'encyclopaedia.' There are great stories, weird facts, and our translator/edtior does some good imitations of rhythmical/rhymed prose.

I would say, for the next
Show More
edition, this reader would prefer more pages from the history and the metaphysics, and rather fewer pages about plants. But I guess the reading public demands science, or nature, or something. Screw that. Give me angels and sultans.
Show Less

Awards

Language

Original language

Arabic

ISBN

0143107488 / 9780143107484

Local notes

Egypt
Page: 0.5891 seconds