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Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
Oct 7, 2024 3:29 AM

Author:Ibn Fadlan

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness

In 922 AD, an Arab envoy from Baghdad named Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Viking traders on the upper reaches of the Volga River. In his subsequent report on his mission he gave a meticulous and astonishingly objective description of Viking customs, dress, table manners, religion and sexual practices, as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation.

Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes and peoples they encountered traded furs, paid tribute and waged wars. This accessible new translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.

Reviews

Exceptional...a fascinating book, with a nugget of curious information on each page, adding up to a picture that turns preconceptions on their head...Delightful and intriguing

—— The Scotsman

Admirers of Herriot's best-selling novels will find much to enjoy here.

—— Choice

A fascinating look at Herriot's childhood and student days.

—— Shari Low , Daily Record

Herriot learnt his trade when animal medicine was a profession that 'trialed the faint miasma of witchcraft' about it. It's that hint of magic that made Herriot so famous.

—— The Lady

Scattered with attractive particles, sparkles with redolent names... A solid, well-researched compendium of information

—— TLS

A fascinatingly different account of the history of art

—— Scotland on Sunday

A mine of information...a fascinating book about art and science that is packed with anecdotes

—— Contemporary Physics

Bright Earth proves that many of the world's greatest artists owe a great debt to the questing colourmen behind them

—— Artists & Illustrators

A delightful book

—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail

This book may be exactly what's needed to increase science literacy for readers of all ages

—— Publishers Weekly

This book is primarily aimed at teenagers, but plenty of adults will get a kick out of it too...McKean's drawings bring the text to life brilliantly ... Dawkins writes convincingly about everything from chemistry to statistics

—— Independent on Sunday

Dawkins uses a simple, brilliant technique highly appealing to young and old

—— The Washington Post

Few scientists manage to reach a huge popular audience. Even among them Richard Dawkins is distinctive for the clarity and elegance of his prose. The Magic of Reality... will be appreciated by inquisitive children while illuminating much for the adult general reader.

—— The Times

This is not a book about the end of the world but about an imagined beginning ...The results of this huge thought-experiment are both fascinating and surprising. Fascinating for what they tell us about the impermanence of the works of man, and surprising for the simple reason that it soon becomes clear that our world would carry on regardless, indifferent to our demise

—— Daily Mail

Weisman's gripping fantasy will make most readers hope that at least some of us can stick around long enough to see how it all turns out

—— New York Times

Engrossing

—— New York Magazine

An idea that is so lateral and clever, so powerfully evocative and masterfully executed that the only appropriate response is fervent envy

—— New Statesman

A wonderful idea ... a hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking book

—— Scotsman

Fascinating, absorbing

—— Good Book Guide

A quick, absorbing read - a summer beach book with brains

—— Bloomberg

If you can stomach only one end-of-the world-as-we-know it story this summer, none is more audacious or interesting than Alan Weisman's The World Without Us

—— The Boston Globe

His is an extraordinary story laced with tragedy

—— Mail on Sunday

[Root's] life story, vividly related here, is crammed with incident and adventure. Curious, creative and fearless, he has diced with death on numerous occasions and been mauled several times in his efforts to capture the daily lives of everything from silver-back gorillas to leopards in the wild on film. A gripping account of a life well lived

—— Good Book Guide
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