Thought-provoking and beautifully written... the book is much more than a travelogue... Sam Garrett's excellent translation highlights both Westerman's skilful pacing and love of language... Westerman has achieved his aim - to climb the mountain - and has found, too, an answer of sorts to the question of how science and religion can coexist

A entertaining mix of memoir, meditation, history and travel

What separates Ararat from the hundreds of other books that have taken on this subject in the past few years is the poetic, novelistic logic behind the author's search... It is Westerman's calm intelligence and freshness of perspective that make his book so appealing

In this beguiling, digressive mix of travelogue, memoir, history and gentle philosophising, [Westerman] probes at the roots of his own sceptical fascination with the mountain...consistently fascinating and elegantly written

A book of stupendous richness and complexity... written with enough knowledge, craft and competence to keep the drowsiest of readers wide awake from first to last

Westerman proves a perceptive, passionate writer, with a line in memorable observations... He also pens excellent discursive sections

An episodic, discursive book... The book is studded with information, skilfully constructed and fluently written. The translation from the Dutch, by Sam Garrett, is relaxed and colloquial

Westerman's personal voyage of understanding - philosophical, rational and spiritual - as he tries to reconcile the clarity of science with the gravity pull of faith is a humane one

Besides surmounting Ararat, the feat achieved by Westerman is aligning his style with the nature of religion

An ambitious and attractive book. Its tone is learned, thoughtful and usually intimate...a finely balanced and well-told experiment that will echo with many readers

This year, its moving, sly, terrified grappling with the approach of extinction overwhelmed me

A rather beautiful account of the birth and evolution of Islam ... Lucid and illuminating ... Fascinating

Aslan is an engaging writer, his strength lies ... as an observer of contemporary challenges facing Islam ... Sensitive and generous

Enthralling. A book of tremendous clarity and generosity of spirit