Ethics in Literature: A Reading Group May 7, 2012

Leader Dr. Anne Klaeysen will host a discussion on The House of Widsom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaisance, by Jim Al-Khalili..
Many of the innovations that we think of as hallmarks of Western science had their roots in the Arab world of the middle ages, a period when much of Western Christendom lay in intellectual darkness. Jim al- Khalili, a leading British-Iraqi physicist, resurrects this lost chapter of history, and given current East-West tensions, his book could not be timelier. With transporting detail, al-Khalili places readers in the hothouses of the Arabic Enlightenment, shows how they led to Europe's cultural awakening, and poses the question: Why did the Islamic world enter its own dark age after such a dazzling flowering?

Entry to our 100-year-old building and meeting rooms is available for most wheelchair users with prior arrangements. Please call ahead (212-874-5210 x 107) for setup of our portable system and plan to arrive one hour before start time