Greek Thought, Arab Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries) (Arabic Thought & Culture)

Excellent book. A well written, well document reference on an era that remained disjointed in information, and vaguely referred to. Gutas collects the various pieces necessary to put things in order and clarify to most of us a history whose aftermath is known, but not the process. Very impressive. A highly recommended book.

A superb review of the subject. I thought I knew a bit about the translation movement into Arabic through Syriac, but Gutas showed me I knew nothing almost. Very deeply researched, by an editor of Brill's Mediaeval Greek and Arabic lexicon. There can be few scholars with such a grasp of Greek-Arabic translation, or of Arabic translations of Greek works. He demolishes some old myths - the idea that Ma'mun's "Bait al-Hikma" in Baghdad was anything other than a library is shown to be baseless speculation, for example - and provides us with a view of the translators that I'd have thought impossible before. The analysis of what was translated was most interesting.

Who knows who "Jake", "Kevin" and the anonomous reader are! I see they - or he, as I suspect - have only done a single review apiece. If "they" are really disappointed by the work, it would be helpful if "they" did a fuller review of the book to let us what in "their" view the book's weaknesses are, supported by the text, if possible. I suspect however that it's Professor Gutas' public opposition to the damage to Iraq's cultural heritage resulting from the war in Iraq that's "their" issue.

For more general reading on the adoption of parts of the Classical tradition by the Arabic-speaking world, I can recommend Franz Rosenthal's reader on the subject, "The Classical Heritage in Islam". His introduction is excellent and the texts well-chosen.

I thought the Gutas book interesting enough, by the way, to give a copy to my mediaevalist sister-in-law as a present.

The worst book I have ever read in my life. Joseph Cummings is actually the author in disguise, don't be fooled, readers. This book will disgust you with its inaccuracies and poor scholarship.

The reviews below under the headings "Jake" and "Duller" demand a response -- not because they are negative, but because they are false and misleading. "Jake" claims that "Gutas is not a Near Eastern Studies specialist, so he is not qualified as an author." The truth is that Gutas is chair of the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department of Yale University. "Duller" asserts that intelligent people know that Gutas is not a scholar. The truth is that Gutas is one of the foremost scholarly experts in the world on the medieval Graeco-Arabic translation movement. Readers may disagree with Gutas's conclusions, and non-specialists may find his subject matter obscure (though it has profound relevance to modern issues), but surely Gutas's scholarly credentials as an expert in this field are above dispute.

Unbelievably horrible. Pathetic. Moronic. These are the only words that I can use to describe Dimitri Gutas' book. The book is supposedly for specialists in the field, but Gutas is not a Near Eastern Studies specialist, so he is not qualified as an author. Seek out other authors for a scholarly account of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement.

As for this book: Tear it to shreds. Throw it in a swimming pool and leave it to drown. Bury it under ground. It doesn't deserve to be published or read by anyone. Absolutely dreadful. Ridiculous. Hateful. Dimitri Gutas is the poorest excuse for an author and a scholar.